


Elle

by Reign90



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: Adventure & Romance, Angst with a Happy Ending, Big Sisters, Broody Carmilla, Drama, Drama & Romance, F/F, Family Drama, Grumpy Carmilla, Jealous Carmilla, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Female Character, Little Sisters, Minor LaFontaine/Lola Perry, Minor Laura Hollis/Carmilla Karnstein, Nonbinary LaFontaine, Past Carmilla Karnstein/Elle Sheridan, Protective Laura Hollis, Romance, Sisters, Vampires
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-07
Updated: 2019-05-10
Packaged: 2019-09-13 08:08:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 38
Words: 99,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16888806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reign90/pseuds/Reign90
Summary: Being betrayed by someone she'd loved and trusted and then finding herself as a sacrifice to a anglerfish was not something she'd ever anticipated would happen to her, but it and and now after a dramatically epic failed revenge attempt to recover the life she was robbed of, she'd died.When given a second chance of a real life Elle grasps at it, though she must overcome her own personal demons to actually live.Aoife Drugain is used to doing things alone, still trying to gain the approval of her mother after over four hundred years she's trying in vain to right that now, what she hadn't expected was to find the new property she'd purchased to already be inhabited.





	1. Prologue

Drugain Castle, County Kerry, Ireland, 1580. 

"Ee-fa!" A deep guttural voice shouted cutting through the carnage of the battle, cutting off at the end as the blade from a warrior's heavy blade was thrust into his chest, sending the man falling to his knees. 

The thick sickening stench of blood twisted and danced merrily through the blood-soaked wet field, the red life essence of every dead man, woman, and child shed like toxic liquid into the Shannon, its usual crystal clear shimmering blue water was lost to a crimson glow.

Still through the misery and decay of a once vibrant array of armed soldiers all with their brisk burly Irish brogue lay scattered on the ground as their murderers continued their slaughter.

The castle grew closer to their beady predatory eyes, the thick red blood running easily from their blades, the sun shining in the sky like an unwilling witness to their carnage lead their way.

With the castles Lord and heirs scattered amongst the debris of warriors, their bodies were torn up and scared, their demise felt in the morale of the remaining troops.

Aoife bit back a growl, her watery emerald green eyes watching as they drew nearer, she'd wanted a way to get out of her marriage to Seamus FitzGerald, the nephew of the Earl of Desmond, this really had not been on her list, she'd prayed for his elopement, his sudden realization that she could definitely do better than a drunken slob, or to finally grow the courage to announce she wanted no man. 

A momentary flicker of a petite redhead, who's pale features lit up two orbs of perfect sea blue eyes freckles lightly dusted evenly across both cheeks. Niamh. 

When the Earl of Desmond had begun his rebellion against the English crown and their oppressive rule, her father had joined him believing they should keep their land out of the hands of the English monarch, as a result in the pact she had become engaged to the Earl's nephew Seamus, in respect her father had said given to the fact that the Earl had no legitimate heirs and Seamus was his closest legal heir, she would become the Countess of Desmond he had proudly proclaimed to all. 

Aoife had not been so taken with the idea, in fact, she'd voiced her disapproval loud and clear, but even her father who had given her far too much freedom as a woman, according to the men all around them, even he wouldn't take into account his daughters words. 

Now she was left alone to fight and push back the enemy, Seamus had fled and her father and brothers were all dead, she'd just watched her father fall, his voice still echoing in her ears. 

"Drawback!" She shouted as loud as her throat would allow. " We can't fight the bastards unless we're in unison. "

The members of the Drugain clan watched her, a fierce flame alight in her eyes, but it was clear, after today she was the last Drugain left, they'd just seen their chieftain and his five heirs all fall at the blades of English invaders, all intent on taking what was theirs.

Each grizzled war-torn man nodded, their heads bowed, the woman was right even if they wished not to admit it out loud, yet doing as a woman said cut them, maybe even more so than a sword would do, they were men.

Aoife felt her blood rage. "This is my families castle, my families land we've been here since the time of Niall and I'll be damned if I'll let them or anyone take it from us!" She pulled the  
vast great sword her father had gotten her, the only daughter of six children, she'd often been treated like her brothers.

Now they were gone.

"So sit here and fall where your stubborn wee asses are glued with shame for having not listened to a woman, or fight, fight and die for it's better to die on your feet with fire in your heart than curl up and die!" Her once pale features turned blood red with effort, her heart pumping harshly within her chest, so much she feared it would break out and escape her.

Shouts raised up around her, with shaking hands she raised her sword the loud battering of wood and harsh English shouts called out to them.

The enemy was in the castle, and this was it, they were about to meet their fate.

"For my father, for Diarmuid Drugain and my brothers who died as heroes pray we all live to tell their stories!" She cried out her sword pointed up high, before turning and running through the door.

In the rugged stone hallway, the sounds of the invaders grew louder, her heart fluttered, her mother's words from her childhood drifted to her mind. Remember Aoife, to be afraid does not mean you are not scared. It had been too long since she had heard her sweet lullabies.

His appearance startled her, a cracked face of wrinkles and a beard made him look old and disheveled, the English armor told her this was it.

"Aye, what do we have 'er then, I'll tell you what why don't you and I 'ave a little fun." He leered at her, his eyes trained on the cleavage of her modestly slim-fitting black dress.

Aoife struggled not to empty the contents of her stomach. "Not in this lifetime, I would rather throw myself from the battlements."

" You've got no choice. "

He lunged forward his massive bulky frame hurdling towards her like a wild animal set to catch its prey, Aoife waited, her heart in her throat as small beads of sweat ran down the palm of her hand.

He reached out to grab her, leaning sideways moving out of his reach she raised her sword in the air with one hand, the meager muscles in her arm flexing and twitching with the effort, with a sudden clash of her arm she sliced it into his shoulder, he let out a feral cry of pain hissing clenching at his wound as Aoife moving her long raven black hair from her eyes where it had fallen, standing over him blood specs over her porcelain cheeks, like an executioner standing over her victim.

"For my father."

" Bitch! " He hissed, struggling to his feet, his feet slipping as Aoife plunged the sword into his chest twisting it with such force it appeared at the other side of him.

"I don't like that word."

Turning swiftly on her heels she paced with purpose further down the hallway bloodlust filling her, revenge in her heart she yearned for her next victim, so she could ease her pain.

Through the door she walked, a vague memory of her mother telling her tales of ghosts and spirits that followed the living through doorways as a child, she'd been afraid refused to walk through doors for a while, now she imagined the fallen warriors of Drugain behind her, their fierce pride and brute strength flowing through her she would beat the English and rebuild the castle.

Another English soldier appeared like ghost from the mist of the sunlight reflected through the castle window, a nasty scowl on his face, she didn't stop, she sped up running until their swords clashed sending out a loud echo through the narrow ancient hall, the effort vibrated violently up her arm, too close to him, before he could react she lifted her leg and kicked him hard as he clenched at the pain in his private region, Aoife sent the sword home into his side, pulling it out heartlessly and swiftly moving on.

Every man she met she slew, people talked about women being weak she heard it every week in church, it made her long for the days before her ancestors had left Paganism, but given a vengeful and grieved heart they could accomplish anything.

She drove the army back through the castle gates, past the sea of dead faithful Drugain warriors, saw the dead face of her father his green eyes staring her way as though in death he watched her as he had done in life, she knew his one eye was different to the other, she'd inherited that too, pushing aside the thought she couldn't succumb to her grief now, that was for later.

When every last of the English spoliers was dead or retreated Aoife stood by the side of the Shannon, her place of choice for childhood play, twenty-five years had past but still, she could see her brothers and she run and play.

She threw her sword down to the grass and let despair take over the tears rolled down her face, her eyes suddenly grew wide and she let out a pained gasp just barely catching her breath.

Falling to her knees the unbearable pain in her back made it hard to breathe, her vision began to blur as blood began pouring from her mouth, in front of her then stood her attacker.

He was not an enemy, she'd known him since her birth, he'd been the one to cast the holy water over her head, now he stood over her a sympathetic smile on his face as he touched her chin gently.

"Shush now child the end will come, I'm helping you, it's not a woman's place to fix this mess and rule over men."

The light began to dim as the blood-choked her, she fell backward onto the grass beside the water she'd loved so.much her long black hair fanned out around her head like a dark halo of a fallen angel, her fight had been futile for she was slain by a friend and not a foe.

Not one Drugain was left alive.

 

Aoife opened her eyes slowly the memory of a deep bone clenching pain was gone, yet as she looked around she found herself in a wooden box, open she could see the familiar stone structure of the church.

She blinked hard, But I died, I know I did there was nothing just blackness, I felt my heart stop. 

Footsteps echoed around her, she remained silent.

"Come now little one, I know you are awake, it's just me there is no need to be afraid." An unfamiliar voice called sweetly, it was motherly it was warm, Aoife wanted to listen but caution called to her instead.

" Who are you? " She called out. 

"Such a beautiful Irish melody in your voice, I think child that you and I will work together very well." A slender hand appeared beckoning her to take it, cautiously and shyly Aoife reached her own hand out and touched the soft skin of the unknown woman. "That's it little one."

Slowly she pulled her up, Aoife Drugain, the last of the proud ancient Drugain clan, found herself sitting up in her own coffin, a memory hit her, one of her own death. The Priest!

"Dear child, your eyes speak of revenge, I can give it to you if you help me." Brown eyes smiled warmly yet a hidden menace lurked within, Aoife could feel an energy, she placed her hand over her heart, there was nothing.

The woman smiled. "Common affliction my dear, but the heart is very overrated don't you think?"

" How am I alive? " Aoife whispered.

"Simple answer is that you aren't, not anymore, the happier news is you will remain your beautiful self forever, isn't that wonderful, people should appreciate beauty more." She traced her fingertip lightly across Aoife's cut glass jawline, her observant eyes piercing into Aoife's. 

"Who are you?" Unsure of the news she questioned more.

" I'm your mother now. "

"I had a mother." Aoife frowned.

" Yes, but she is dead and gone and I gave you eternal youth and beauty, and the chance to get your revenge, it's yours if you want it, do you want it Aoife? " She watched her, her eyes becoming glued to the sitting woman, waiting for the inevitable to happen, it always did no one ever said no, in truth no one ever had the chance to. 

Visions of revenge coiled in her stomach like a violent bug, "What do I have to do?"

The woman smiled, leaning forward to help her out of the box. "Let mother take care of you now, everything will be okay now."

 

Styria, Austria, 1872

The music roared loudly the orchestra played vividly enchanting tunes of romance and mystery, on the dance floor couples twirled and pirouetted in circles, the stench of wealth was everywhere. 

The city's elite had come out in force, even royalty had been spotted flittering in and out of the crowd, it was the usual stuffy celebration held for no reason at all just for one family to show how much wealth they had, tomorrow night there would be another and then another, it continued, people thought battles were held on fields with soldiers, they were wrong they took place in grand huge houses, gold hanging from the ceilings and expensive champagne was drunk as though it were water. 

It was a world away from Drugain Castle, and her childhood home in Kerry, everything was now, at night she would dream of the Shannon, of swimming in the deep shadowy plains of its ethereal liquid majesty and battling her brothers on the banks, Patrick would win mostly, he was the eldest their father claimed when the rest would come to him sulking that they had lost again. 

Aoife rolled her eyes bored of the usual routine, night after night the same play, the same script, she'd been tired for one hundred years but loyalty to her mother stopped her from fleeing.

If anything the heavy ballgown stopped her from moving very fast.

"The usual boring troupe." Matska sighed drinking from her crystal glass of champagne.

Aoife nodded her head in agreement, her eyes fixed on a familiar figure across the room. "It seems dearest Carmilla has come up trumps again."

" Oh, Momma will be pleased. " Her sister laughed. "And you, who have you picked?"

Aoife felt the now familiar growing discontent. "You know me, sister, I like to take my time, we both know Carmilla is mothers favorite it's not as though we have to worry about this."

" True. " Matska turned towards her a wicked smile across her lips. "I've seen you though, casting your little emerald eyes on the Archduchess."

Aoife shrugged. "Anyone with a title and are rich should be fair game." They are all human and are all despicable.

She'd watched her country fall little by little to the evil grasp of English rule, saw her ancient families lands running with the blood of the families who had lived there under the Drugain protection for generations upon generations, as the invader stole their prized green fields and heavenly trees as their own, ruling with an iron fist, her only satisfaction had been devouring the priest who'd taken her life, she smirked remembering his face when he'd seen her it was one she had never forgotten, the confusion had given way to fear especially when she'd born her fangs, his cry had filled the whole valley.

" Indeed, slightly less grotesque than the poor too, look here she comes. " Mattie pointed her glass still in her hand as their sister walked towards them. "She asked me the other day if I ever questioned what we do?"

Aoife listened intently, she wasn't the only one who thought this? How had she not known this before? "What did you say?"

Mattie shrugged. "Nothing of course."

" Of course. " Aoife sighed.

"You don't question it do you?" Her sister asked.

" What, oh goodness no, of course not, mother knows best. " As she said it Aoife felt another part of her dead heart die further.

Their sister drew nearer, a shy smile across her thin lips lost in her own little world her gaze held downwards, she still managed to carefully avoid bumping into people just like a ballerina carefully glided across a stage with careful gentle elegance. How does she do that? 

Matska shook her head an indulgent smile on her face. "I'll go and top us up."

"Good idea, although I think she's had enough." Aoife laughed. 

"What?" Carmilla questioned as Matska turned away her 

Aoife saw it even if no one else could, that same wanderlust she'd noticed ever since she'd met her latest mark, an ominant feeling grew louder in her core until that was all she could feel screaming at her to take notice. "Don't do what it is you are thinking about Carmilla."

The shorter woman startled, flustered. "What do you mean I'm not thinking about anything."

"I've known you for nearly two hundred years, you don't think I haven't gotten a little insight into you by now." 

Carmilla knew at that moment if her face could turn red it would, this was the moment she thanked the heavens she was already dead. "You are imagining things."

Aoife moved closer to her, "Carmilla, be careful Mother she, she knows everything we do even when she hide it, she knows it, and she always finds a way to better us."

"Good thing I'm not hiding anything then isn't it?" Carmilla shrugged. 

Aoife felt eyes on them, not the ones she usually feared, not their mother she wasn't here tonight, lifting her gaze she met the gaze of the young woman her sister had chosen, and who she knew despite her denials she was smitten with, maybe it was even more than that. 

At that moment, that brief touch of eyes through a crowded ballroom Aoife was drawn back to the first woman she'd ever loved, Niamh, there was an innocence in the depths of this girl's deep murky green eyes, the memory of standing at the back of the church when she watched Niamh marry Seamus, how ironic that had been, and every now and then she had given in to the urge to torture herself and go back to catch just a glimpse of her, the last time she'd found herself standing beside a grave, killed by English troops during a siege. 

Aoife had spent a decade avenging her death, her brutal murder, all her mind could conjure up was Niamh's sweet smile. 

Suddenly she grabbed her sister's arm and pulled her into the alcove away from prying eyes and gossiping mothers. "Be careful and listen to my warning Carmilla, you must know she will not tolerate betrayal, and you, you take care, do you think a human really could ever love someone like us? what the hell is there to love?"

Carmilla pulled her arm from Aoife's iron grip. "What I do is none of your business!" 

"It's too late to stop whatever has started, she always gets her way," Aoife warned, she'd seen what happened when someone betrayed their mother, it had taught her that was something she never wanted to happen to her. 

Her sister didn't reply, the sullen rebellious hate-filled stare she sent her as she turned away told her everything she needed to know. 

Dread and fear filled her, her hands shook as she raised it to run it over her brow, her hands never shook, "Oh Carmilla, what have you done?"


	2. The Other Side

It was a funny thing Elle observed how one could sit in the very heart of paradise and still feel a burning hate deep in your chest, a deep pain that never went away, people thought the dead felt no pain, that was all she had felt for one hundred and forty-six years.

The humiliating torture of falling in love with someone who lied and deceived her ultimately betraying her had lingered on, she'd thought she'd done it, she'd thought she had achieved what she'd ached for a chance to feel the sun on her face again, to let the cold gentle drops of rain freeze her cheeks as they descended from the sky like round orbs of liquid.

The chance to run through a meadow the high grass tickling her legs without care for propriety, to set her feet again into water and feel the freshness echo through her, to feel the air pass through her lungs as she breathed in the freshness all around her, to feel her heart beat faster, to feel something other than hate and revenge.

The chance to begin to live where once she had failed so badly, she deserved something after the badness she had gotten inflicted on her if Carmilla could get a happy ever after, why couldn't she?

She thought she'd have her revenge, neither had occurred she'd been betrayed again.

Still, the knowledge that Carmilla got to carry on happily with her life, and she was gone, it stung a lot, stung like a thorn that had burrowed under her skin and refused to leave.

Soft footsteps came into her ear, so soft they were nearly invisible a soft glow appeared in the corner of her vision, a bright yellow and white light that cast with it a gentle heat as though it were a solar flare.

It carried with it a sweet lavender smell like her father's garden at their home before her mother had died and the garden had become too painful for her father to tend to, the sight of the vibrant flowers had driven him to tears many times.

"Ah excellent, I've been looking for you everywhere you are supposed to report to the reception area when you first arrive." A soft lullaby voice said holding a small handheld device in his palm.

"Excuse me, I'm a little busy being dead can you just go and bother someone else?" Elle bit out angrily, why couldn't she ever get what she wanted?

The owner of the voice came into view the light around them dimmed out and there stood a man in a white suit, long blond hair ran down his back like a long flowing yellow river of silk. Whiskey amber colored eyes raised to take her in, running over the black of her gown. "I didn't know they still did the whole mourning thing when someone died."

" Are you trying to be funny? "

"Well, I try but never get any callbacks for rebookings, sadly I think I'm going to have to call my mother and tell her she was right, comedy is not a career, anyway, as I was saying I've been looking for you, I've already sent the other girls back down but you are the very last on my list."

Elle's brows furrowed in confusion. "What are you talking about?" Her perfect English accent grew more intense.

"My list, whenever someone arrives here their name is added to my list, it's my job to guide them in the afterlife."

Elle scoffed. "To have an afterlife doesn't a person also needed to have had a life."

" Not usually, my meaning is Ms. Sheridan is that your name is on my list but with a side note. "

"What is the side note?" She sighed exhaustedly. 

" Well it's written here by the goddess Inanna herself, you are not scheduled to remain here. " He looked back over his notes. "Yes, Ms. Elle Sheridan I'm sorry but you must leave."

Elle's eyes boggled wide. "Excuse me!"

" It's not your time Ms. it seems you have been given a reprieve, another chance down with the mortals on Earth. "

"What!" She jumped to her feet struggling to stop her knees from trembling. " Is this some disgusting joke, another way to torture me? "

"No, I've told you, you are free to go, don't take this lightly second chances are rarely given." As suddenly as he arrived he was gone disappeared in a gust of light bright stardust.

 

The sound of heels echoed through the hallway, the fierce pound of seven-inch expensive black stiletto heels met with murderous intent on the ancient wooden flooring, the woman attached sighed with impatience rolling her eyes, stopping when her gaze fell on the portrait that hung on the wall. 

Green eyes stared intently, the sort of green that pushed its way through the dying winter's snow to remind everyone that spring was coming, the type of green that the oceans became once a storm has struck, Aoife blinked hard to hide the image from her sight, but even in this state the image stayed with her for moments after she had closed her eyes. 

Haunted by an image she had no right to be haunted by, it seemed to be what happened to her whenever she let any kind of emotion grip her, it had happened with Niamh and then it had happened with her, only at least there her torture was solitary and lonely, no one knew of her humiliation, of her guilt. 

She turned away after a moment of staring too much, the artist had been an incompetent fool, he hadn't captured anything that was really the woman in the portrait, all that was left was a rather beige reminder of a vibrant soul. 

The talking in her ear grew too annoying for her to bear, why could no one around her ever understand plain English and follow orders? 

"Just do it okay, I want it now, you buy it that is your job if you can't do it I'll hire someone who can." Aoife slammed her cell phone shut with a scowl, when did it become impossible for people to do their jobs?

She took a moment to look around the room, it seemed like a lifetime ago since she had been in this room, it was only once but the memory was imprinted on her, pushing aside an imaginary piece of hair that she imagined had fallen from her perfect raven black hair, held immaculately up upon her head, making her whole face appear fierce and hard, her cheekbones stood out like two perfectly sculpted stones below her eyes. 

Plump red lips pouted and exhaled as she turned around taking it all in, she'd put this acquisition off for decades, but it had always been on her list and now it was time to get over the demons that followed her, well some of them. 

Nothing had changed, it was as though the sitting room had just stopped in time, the once grand mirror placed over the mantlepiece still stood proudly as though it were a crown adorning its monarchs head.

Even the door stood the same, the scent had changed but in her mind, she closed her eyes and brought up that day again.

Aoife paced swiftly through the doors held open by a pompous footman his Sharpe large nose stuck high in the air. "Carmilla dearest sister." 

The act was the same every time, nothing changed somehow their mother imagined Carmilla to be the more fragile vulnerable one of them all, how appearances could be vastly deceiving. 

Her sister sat on the couch next to an unfamiliar young woman a soft shy smile played across her mouth as she failed to make eye contact her eyes cast downward as her cheeks flame red. 

Aoife felt for a moment as though she'd regained the ability for her heart to beat, something unfathomable in the vast seas of green eyes pulled her in. 

Carmilla stood up happily throwing her arms around her. "I'm so happy you could come, sister." 

Aoife moved her arms around the shorter woman, not sisters by birth they'd shared the title for more centuries than she'd care to acknowledge. "Of course I came Carmilla dear, I couldn't very well leave you here after such a horrid accident." 

Back when highwaymen had been vogue their mother had used them as the excuse to install Carmilla into a home, her favorite way, however, had been to meet someone at a party and make them believe they had known each other or were some distant relative they should be ashamed for not remembering. 

"I have been very well taken care of here." her sister turned back to the seated woman and smiled, her pale yellow dress illuminated by the mid-afternoon sun, when Aoife saw the young woman smile back she felt as though she was the sun bestowing upon them her enchanting magical light. 

" My father and I have been very honored to have her. " She spoke finally, a soft melodious sweet English rose. 

Aoife smiled down at her, why should her sister get all of the fun, her mother wanted victims why did it matter who gave them to her! And in the meantime she could enjoy herself, it had been a long time since she had let her mind wander in such a direction. 

Carmilla turned to place her hands warmly over the girls, Aoife frowned at the sight. 

"Carmilla dear, you are quite rude today, why you haven't even introduced your friend." 

" Oh, yes, of course, Elle, this is my older sister Aoife, and Aoife, this is Ms. Sheridan. " Carmilla smiled proudly and in that one action, Aoife spotted danger ahead. 

"Hello, Ms. Sheridan." Aoife smiled, wonder what her first name was, how would it sound on her lips? 

The door opened and a plump woman entered equally as snooty as the footman, carrying a silver tray filled with cups and saucers, a teapot all the essentials of the perfect English tea. 

"Tea." Ms. Sheridan asked. 

Carmilla watched her intently, she knew of all things her sister hated tea on a trip to a London cafe in 1767 she'd manage to wipe out the whole store in an angry rage when the proprietor had dared to give her a cup of tea instead of chocolate, instead Aoife smiled warmly. "Yes thank you, Ms. Sheridan." accepting the delicate fine china cup.

"You see, I was rather sad before Ms. Karnstein managed to arrive here, My father's friend General Spielsdorf was intending to bring his Niece here to visit, and I was looking forward to making a friend, but Ms. Rheinfeldt sadly died." 

Aoife switched her gaze to her sister who turned away from her knowing emerald green eyes. 

"Such a sad story, I'm very sorry for the loss of your potential friend, luckily fate gave you my sister instead. " Aoife consoled her with a warm half smile, Carmilla had come to know Aoife rarely gave her full smile to anyone, she wondered sometimes if there had ever been a time when she was truly happy. 

Ms. Sheridan smiled. "I think so too, despite the sleepwalking at night." She laughed jokingly. 

Aoife rolled her eyes, must her sister do such stereotypical things for a Vampire? " Not still sleepwalking dearest sister, you see from her youngest days my sister whenever there has been upheaval or something that troubles her she does this, the accident has no doubt brought it out in her again. " 

"How interesting, I'm sure if that is the case it will not last." Ms. Sheridan smiled picking up the cup and raising it to her lips, Aoife watched her sip the hot liquid into her mouth imagining her soft lips against her own, the feel of such silky flesh against her fingertip. 

She pulled herself out of her dangerous daydream lifting her own cup of dreaded tea and drinking trying to hide the inevitable grimace, tea was an awful vile thing imposed on the world by the British who assumed tea to be the solution to everyone's troubles. 

"My father is visiting his friend General Spielsdorft which is why he is not here to welcome you I'm afraid." 

Aoife and Carmilla exchanged brief glances. just enough to pass along a concern, Aoife nodded at her, passing the message that she would do what needed to be done so her sister wouldn't be found out before the moment came and the goal had been achieved. 

Aoife sighed pushing away the old thoughts that threatened to engulf her again, for far too long that memory had haunted her swiftly and heartlessly she ripped herself away from the visual memories, leaving the room and slamming the door closed.

"This may have been a really bad idea." She sighed, burying her head in her hands buying the Sheridan home which had stood empty since the death of Ms. Sheridan's father in 1909 he'd spent every day until taking his last breath searching for his missing daughter.

The sound of the heavy front doors opening caught her attention and turning on her heels she headed towards the door, her face stern intent on ripping into whoever had dared enter her property without her permission.

The doors stood open the figure of a woman stood out in the doorway, her arms stretched out wide her head bent backward as though she awaited the rays of the sun to hit her.

"Excuse me this is my property you are trespassing!" She said sternly marching towards the door, why did people think it was okay to push a woman simply because they were a woman, she'd had to put many a person right on that issue in her time. 

Aoife's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when the woman turned around, a vision in black illuminated by the summer afternoon's sun, stood Elle Sheridan.

"What the fuck is going on! I have ghosts now, this is just bloody brilliant, wait, a minute ghosts are cool now right?" Aoife asked her as though she would know. " Yes, haunted houses are very popular, oh this is excellent, I can add this onto the value."

Elle frowned angrily, she remembered Carmilla's sister, with a determined grace she marched forward iron in every step she took. "I am not a ghost, not anymore, and this is my home, not yours."

Aoife blinked. "What do you mean you are not a ghost? and why am I wasting my time talking to you?" Probably just my overactive imagination anyway. She'd been alive since a particularly stormy Irish night in the winter of 1555, she'd seen her fair share of spirits, she'd never conversed with them before and now the whole exercise was pointless, coldly she turned away and continued her tour of her recently bought property. 

Elle too caught up in her own news to care for now where she was going, touched her hand to her heart, a smile of relief and joy lifting her mouth upward. "Yes, it's beating, it's actually beating, I'm alive." A lone tear trickled down her cheek, after everything she'd been through finally she had another chance. 


	3. Ex Ghost Vs Vampire

"Are you listening to me?"

Aoife ignored the shrill voice that called after her, frantic flat shoes so typical of hideous 19th-century shoes for women clapping on the floor. "No." She replied cooly making mental notes of everything she passed, the drapes, the furniture everything was to go. " Especially that portrait. " She pointed with her cell phone at the image that hung in the hall. " It's awful and needs to be gone right now. "

"My father had that painted for me, for my seventeenth birthday." Elle protested, she remembered the day so vividly, it was a hot sticky summer's day and she thought she would pass out.

" His talent for finding a good artist almost pales in comparison to the artist himself. " Aoife cringed, swiftly moving along. "Go and haunt someone else little girl."

Stamping her foot in rage Elle sprung in front of Aoife, it had been over a hundred years but she still remembered the woman she'd been introduced to as Carmilla's older sister, or one of them. "I'm not haunting anyone, not anymore I'm not a mere specter stuck on an endless loop."

Aoife rolled her eyes. "I have no idea what you are talking about." In her haste and carelessness, Aoife made the arrogant choice to walk through her, what better way to get rid of a spirit than walking through them.

Unfortunately, she bumped right into the other woman, a solid form blocking her, Aoife frowned at the slightly shorter woman. "Interesting turn of events." Grabbing her by the wrists and holding her in place, her cruel menacing green eyes bore into Elle's "What did you do little one? Put out for the big guy." She laughed her eyes cruel and ice cold.

Elle grimaced at the grip on her skin, struggling and failing to remove her hands from the stronger woman who looked as though she wasn't even trying. "Get off me!"

Aoife chuckled simply because she did not know what else to do, there had been a time when being this close to her had been her most ultimate nightly wish.

Carmilla had invaded Elle Sheridan's dreams but no one ever knew that Aoife's had been filled by the sweet young girl with the angelic smile and intoxicating sweetness, it had been the first time in hundreds of years that her dreams had been peaceful and blood free.

Letting go suddenly, too suddenly Elle stumbled backward catching herself before she managed to tumble to the ground, Aoife laughed mockingly. "Oh, dear what will you do little one, this place is mine where will you go?"

Elle growled low. "You do not frighten me, I am done being a victim of anyone, least of all you and your sister." She accused angrily pointed her finger at Aoife.

" Excuse me, it was not me who chose you to sacrifice, it was dearest Carmilla, you chose to ignore the signs that were staring at you in the face, not me, I did nothing to you. " Aoife defended herself, although to her own words her excuses were empty.

"You are just as much a monster as she is." Elle sneered.

Aoife rolled her eyes. "You need to improve your insults, I've been called worse than a Monster, last week someone called me Kim Kardashian I was mortified, I do not have a big butt."

" This is my house. " Elle said angrily.

Aoife smirked. "Correction it would have been had you lived, yet you see you disappeared and your father changed his will, so it's not yours anymore Ms. Sheridan, that aside from the fact that the hereditary laws in Austria then was positively draconian, women could not inherit property in their own right, they would have to be married or this whole place had gone to the nearest male relative, you must have read Pride & Prejudice, like that. " She mocked, walking around her and leaving her standing fuming. "Only Carmilla did not turn into your heroic Mr. Darcy did she?"

" I disappeared because of you! " Elle accused following her, she didn't expect the woman to turn around and grab her, pinning her against the wall with her body, her face too close to hers.

"You disappeared because of Carmilla, not me, or do you still have your head in the clouds, expectations of a happy ever after the former ghost and the vampire how romantic." Aoife pouted, she's moved on with another boring beige human." Aoife ran her long red fingernail lightly over her cheek. "Can't say she doesn't have a type."

Elle grimaced the idea that she was anything like Carmilla's new little toy was disgusting to her, but she'd tried to warn her, tried to help her, she hadn't heeded her warnings. "I am nothing like her." Elle spat pushing Aoife away from her.

Aoife grinned. "The mouse has a fire, another interesting development."

" I am not a mouse and nor will I let anyone control me ever again! "

Aoife nodded. "You are right, so you should leave my abode, I'll only end up controlling you." A spark of an idea entered her mind, the flicker of a memory, the nights kept awake by ideas of long passionate encounters. Crap, she needs to leave now! "Don't slam the door on your way out."

Turning on her heels expertly she headed up the staircase to continue her surveyance of the house and grounds, hopefully, it wouldn't be too long and she could leave Austria and head back home.

It was strange that even after so long in the cold dried up black recesses of her dead heart it was always the castle by the playful old faithful Shannon, it had been too long since she'd heard her old friend ripple and rush past, been too long since she'd lifted her arms in the air and feel the fresh air around her, listening to the ancient whispers of her kin, she'd never forgotten she was the last of the Drugain clan, after five hundred years it still rang true and her last day of life had never left her.

"I must bring in a team of cleaners, I can't spend any time here with it looming like a Hammer Horror set, Oh little mouse, I'd change clothes if I was you unless you plan to go for the steampunk goth look or a Queen Victoria cosplay, you choose." Or keep it cause it's hot as hell. 

Elle paled. "I don't have anything."

 

Aoife twirled around in a circle, it was amazing what some big threats and bribes could do, every square inch of every room had now been dusted and mopped, each sparkling clean.

She was smugly proud but now it really did look as though she'd been transported back in time, she hated it again suddenly.

"I don't know why you look so unhappy." A bored voice said from the doorway, Aoife turned around to find Elle, still in her widow black dress, the sun casting one side of her face in light, her hair frame like a halo of gold on her head.

Oh come on, do me a favor. "I'm not this is how I always look."

" Good to know, you never really were very friendly. " Elle remembered the coldness that surrounded her after their first meeting.

Aoife smiled. "I wasn't awarded Ice Queen of the century for no reason." She couldn't tell her she'd done it for a reason, to push her away, to make herself turn away.

Elle picked up the bottom of her dress and walked further into the room, taking a seat on the couch, she had no intention of leaving her home.

Sitting as though she were the queen of her castle she looked up arrogantly at Aoife. "You missed the party, we had such fun."

" What party? "

"The reunion." Elle smiled, her pristine English accent announced every letter with perfection. " Your dear sister and her little lapdog, and some others, I didn't care enough to get their names. "

Aoife frowned. "You saw Carmilla?"

" Yes, she didn't seem very happy to see me, I have no idea why. " She pouted. "I managed to give her a little gift."

" What gift? "

Elle smirked a twisted hate Aoife hated to see in her. "I took her life."

The old familiar over protectiveness attacked her, when Carmilla was first brought to them it was she and Matska who had taken her under their wing, she did become the sister their mother claimed she was, and through envy, jealousy and even hate Aoife could never clear away the affection she felt for her. "What are you talking about?" Her eyes darting around them looking for evidence.

" I imagine she's gone back to her paradise, at least I don't have to watch her anymore. "

"I hardly think Toronto is paradise, So she is still walking around? she's not brown bread?"

Elle frowned. "Brown bread? are you hungry I can make some tea for us." A strange action that the old Elle would have offered made her shiver. " Forget I said that. "

"Good I hate tea," Aoife said with distaste.

" You drank so much tea, you said you loved it. "

Aoife rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I said a lot of things, the English love of tea will forever be a mystery to me, it's their solution to everything." Aoife sat in the chair opposite. " Oh no, look my head has fallen off, don't worry tea will fix it. "

Elle rolled her eyes. "And what are you than Ms. Drugain?"

" I'm Irish. "

"Something stronger for you then."

Aoife leaned forward. "Stereotypes Ms. Sheridan, they are tired cliches."

Elle felt herself feel slightly sick talking so calmly with a vampire, the sister of the woman who had betrayed her. "Which one of you killed Bertha?"

Aoife frowned, she had to think for a moment who she meant. "Bertha was not my conquest, killing young innocents was never my taste, her uncle however now that was me." She shrugged as though it were nothing.

" How? " Elle whispered, she recalled her father attending his funeral.

Aoife sent her a smug smile. "It's the strangest thing but a man never questions when a young woman turns up in his bed, he becomes utterly blinded by something else, something located south of his belt, and then as soon as he is caught the deed is done, it's a very easy way to get the job done." 

Elle shook her head in disgust. "So easy, I was right you are a monster."

"You think what you did was any different?" Aoife challenged. 

"It was my right to have my revenge, to get my life back that I was robbed of," Elle shouted back, her face red with rage. 

Aoife unfazed by her anger sat forward on her chair, her powerful green eyes boring into the other woman's. "Revenge is a useful emotion, is it? let me tell you something Ms. Sheridan revenge is something we tell ourselves to get through the pain, to make our anger stay so bright that it's all anyone will ever see of us, I've seen revenge in all of its forms, hell I've had my revenge, that was the true moment I died, revenge is a disease and it will kill you." 

"Am I supposed to feel sorry for you?"

"No, just trying to give you some advice, now let's talk about you and when you will be leaving my lovely new house, well before I sell it of course," Aoife said smugly, leaning back as though she'd allowed the other woman to play her role as conqueror for a moment, but now she was taking that back for herself. 

 

Elle had kept her place in the lounge long after Aoife had waltzed out of the room in all of her smug dark glory, cursing herself for being the fool she had been how had it been so easy to fall for their show, for Carmilla's show. 

Aoife had always worn an air of intensity that had in a way scared her, the raw way in which she would turn around and find her watching her at times before she would swiftly turn away as though it had never happened was alarming. 

Elle sighed turning her gaze to the clock, her stomach let out a low deep growl, she would leave the room in search of food but she was mounting a protest, she would show that awful Vampire that she wouldn't beat her and once she left, she could really begin to live, she'd overcome worse than this in her time, this was as easy as peeling an orange. 

The door behind her creaked open, her brown/green eyes flashing to the dark figure who entered the room too silently for her taste, she expected her to leap at her, attack her instead Aoife laid a tray of food on the table in front of her, before heading back to the door and closing it behind her again as though she had never been there. 

Elle eyed the food suspiciously, cautiously, sniffing the steam that emanated from the dishes trying to see if she could smell the poison that the woman must have placed inside. 

"What is that little vampire playing at?" She whispered to herself as she rose to her feet and marched out of the room determined to confront her on whatever evil scheme she had planned. 

Aoife rolled her eyes as she heard the same pound of footsteps coming her way, as she had earlier these were equally as angry and totally as annoying, she took a sip from her glass as she lounged back on the chair waiting patiently. 

"What are you doing?" The woman shouted as she entered the room, taking in the arrogance that was displayed before her, in her own home she was made to feel the unwanted guest. 

Aoife shrugged swilling the deep red contents of her crystal glass around in her hand. "I don't know what you mean."

"The food, is it poisoned?"

"I'm offended, poison is the weapon of a coward, if I wanted you dead you would have been dead a long time ago."

"I was!" 

Aoife rolled her eyes. "Not by my hands, and you know what I mean."

"When did you start to cook? You don't look like you would do manual labor." Elle said casting her eyes over the other woman, her perfect expensive clothes, her pristine styled hair, perfect long red nails. 

"I have warned you about stereotypes and cliches, Ms. Sheridan, It's dangerous for one to follow along with them, we all thought Trump was a buffoon and no one would elect him, how wrong we were, anyway as for me, of course, I can cook, I will tell you a little story during the war I had a very fashionable little restaurant club in Vienna, it was the favorite place of all the high ranking Nazis we were very exclusive." She tapped the bridge of her nose with her finger winking. 

"You helped Nazis?" Elle may have been dead but she had observed the world from her far off place, she knew how time had passed. 

"Again too quick to presume Ms. Sheridan, it's a great big flaw in your character, I understand you see me as a flat evil villainess, I go where the evil lurks to feed off it, you think I have nothing but that, maybe you are right, but where there were high ranking Nazis and booze Ms. Sheridan is a lot of loose talks, and I was an eager listener."

"You were a spy?" Elle asked unbelievingly that she would have done anything good. 

"Maybe not a spy, but I passed information onto the Allies, may have taken part in some missions across the Austrian borders." The raven-haired woman shrugged, taking another sip. 

Elle winced watched her swallow the thick liquid. "That's disgusting."

"The blood or double-crossing Nazis? shall I tell you about all the ones I ripped apart with my bare teeth?" 

"No."

"Disappointing I wanted to brag." With a cat-like grace, she stood up, approaching the other woman with a silky swagger in her step, her hips swaying hypnotically as she moved with flair circling Elle deliberately. "I never understood the fear humans have for us."

"You want to eat us." Elle attacked, feeling her closeness behind her, her hand moving aside her hair slowly sending a shot of tingles up her spine as her spot fingers touched her neck. 

"And humans do not hurt and kill each other every day, they hunt us no one cares, the reason people are afraid is they read too much and watch too many awful movies," Aoife whispered daring herself to move closer, "I've never eaten a beautiful woman in my whole afterlife, well not in the way you would think of being eaten." She chuckled. 

"Just ugly ones."

"How awful, I'm not a man who sees only what society tells us in beauty, don't you think that beauty is subjective? It doesn't exist as a total example because to each of our eyes it is different." Aoife spoke softly, her accent now thick and whole hitting Elle's ear like a weapon of persuasion she could feel her knees grow a little weak. 

"I never thought about it, who I thought was beautiful, turned out to be a monster."

Aoife chuckled. "No, either she was always a monster or she was always beautiful in which case her being a Vampire would matter very little to you, maybe she was not the great love you profess."

"She betrayed me!" Elle ground her teeth her jaw flexing visibly. 

Grabbing a hold of her shoulders Aoife spun the woman around to face her, holding her captive in her embrace, her eyes all too knowing. "Maybe she was your escape, when your plans of escape for strange new lands were just mere plans they were new and exciting so was she, yet when a stranger comes to you and tells you something suddenly all the plans are lies, everything is stamped down and you follow the stranger you knew nothing of, without even asking how she knew Carmilla at all? That little one is naive and I see it in your eyes, you see that too." 

Elle snatched herself from the woman's grip, angry. "You know nothing about me!"

Aoife took a deep breath. "Go and eat, little mouse, your nightmares are over and your days have just begun you will need to eat, just the very reason I need to drink that." She pointed to her abandoned glass.


	4. Surprises

Dark shadows danced around the walls like thin wall based ballerinas as the light of the moon shifted and was lost behind the clouds that hide it from view.

Elle shivered it reminded her of those dreams that had begun everything, only this time she was wide awake and after one hundred and forty-five years of utter hell she still found this unnerving.

Her first night with a life and she was reduced to this, trying to sleep in the bedroom she'd possessed from the moment she'd left the nursery until her death, sadly it hadn't been a very long stay. 

Crystal clear tears fell from her eyes hidden by the darkened room and the shadows that inhabited it with her, sleep was something she feared, what if this was all just an illusion? she'd wake up and it would all be undone, she'd still be dead.

What did she do now? She had no money and no family that was living, she was all alone.

Soft footsteps stopped outside her door, her eyes flashed to the door as she saw the door handle move slightly before it stopped.

Elle held her breath, what was scarier than having a vampire in your dreams was having one in the flesh and being all alone in the same house as one, especially when this one looked menacing and cold. 

After a few moments, the footsteps passed and Elle could finally release her breath with a huge sigh of relief, she was not going to be Aoife's midnight snack. What had she meant when she said she'd eaten beautiful women, just not how I imagined it to mean? 

"She was probably trying to provoke me." She shrugged consoling herself with the obvious answer. " What else could it mean? that she eats only beautiful women? Does that mean I'm safe? "

A draft caught the exposed nape of her neck catching her off guard.

"I will tell you if you ask me nicely, or maybe you'd rather I show you." A familiar voice purred huskily making Elle jump out of her skin with fright, as her gaze turned to the window a dark ominous figure stood a mere silhouette to the window.

Pulling the covers up to her chin, her pillowy cheeks turning a pinky rouge color. "What are you doing here?"

Aoife chuckled at her discomfort. God, she is adorable. "I never was very good with sleep even before I became a big bad Vampire, I've come reluctantly because you are the only other person here and well you sounded a little distressed."

" How did you get in here? "

"Hidden door." Aoife shrugged.

"What." Elle shifted on the bed risking having to move closer to Aoife to eye the door, how had she forgotten that door? it had led to the room Carmilla had slept in, the door she had slipped through to see her.

Aoife noted the change in her features, she frowned curiously. "May I sit on the edge of your bed?"

" You are asking permission? " Elle asked shocked.

Aoife shrugged arrogantly. "Well usually I never have to ask there aren't many women who turn me down, usually they more or less drag me to their bed, what can I say I'm irresistible."

" You have a big head. "

"I've never had any complaints."

Elle rolled her eyes. "Okay, but stay on the edge."

Aoife walked slowly towards the bed, ignoring the voice in her head that screamed it's delight at being allowed to actually sit on the other woman's bed, there was a time she would have killed for this opportunity, fulfilling a small past wish before the inevitable time came to move on was something she was going to indulge in and happily so.

Elle felt the unfamiliar sensation of her heart beat faster, her cheeks flame with heat as she felt Aoife's eyes on her, maybe agreeing to this was a really bad idea.

Yet in the deepest darkest recesses of her mind she was intrigued, "Are you, I mean are you like Carmilla?"

Aoife took in the words, not really liking the answer she came up with. No, if I was you would have wanted me. "What do you mean, you know we're both vampires so what is your question really about?"

Elle blushed a little. "She likes women."

" Oh, well as I am older than her and had my realization a long time before her, you should think that she is like me, because yes I also like women. " Aoife shifted on the bed noting how Elle moved backward. "Don't worry I've never forced anyone before I'm not going to start now."

" I was jus.  "

"Don't worry about it, are you?"

" What. "

Aoife rolled her eyes. "Carmilla holds you as her first love, you were running away together, so you know what I'm asking, are you Gay?"

" I'm not very happy right now and you know why. " Elle pouted crossing her arms over her chest.

"Are you kidding me right now? tomorrow you and I are going to be going over what every new word means, fuck you are so far behind." Aoife said with outrage, forgetting that making plans with Elle was a very bad thing, she should be getting things done, getting rid of her and moving on. "A word of warning if you ever go back to England, or anywhere in Britain actually do not think Fanny is a girls name anymore, it means something quite different." 

Her eyes strayed to her hands that held up the covers, a sudden thought occurred to her, she had no clothes aside from what she was wearing, Elle was under those covers as naked as the day she was born.

Holy mother of God, it's a good thing my heart has already stopped because I'm certain that would have stopped it for sure. It had been far too long since she'd indulged in anything sexual, one hundred and forty-five years to be exact, it was very easy to fool people and play up to that playgirl image, but that was all it was an image

She jumped to her feet. "So I'll be going." Come on I've been a really good girl for decades, please let her ask me to climb in with her. 

" Okay, goodnight. "

The vampire sighed, of course, she wouldn't ask such a ridiculous thing, she hated her, and it was for the best. "Goodnight." Sweet dreams little one. 

For a long moment Aoife stood glued to the spot, the silence grew far too loud around them as their eyes connected and lingered as though channeling something that neither quite knew what.

Aoife shook herself out of her trance. "I better go."

" Yes. " Elle whispered breathlessly.

"Goodnight."

" You said that already. "

"Yeah, I'm sorry." Feeling like a world class idiot Aoife turned to exit through the door.

" Do you really think I'm boring and beige? " An uncertain voice asked her, so different to the harsh hard woman who had battled with her all afternoon and evening.

It made Aoife stop in her tracks, remembering her words, her hands clenched on the edge of the door so hard the wood cut into her skin harshly. "I think that there is a whole rainbow of colors just waiting for you." The black lonely shadows are my space, they are too ordinary and reclusive for your perfection. 

 

Aoife hit her head back against the door, cursing her own weakness for still being a fool so easily played. "It's really been far too long since I've had sex I'm mentally undressing Victorian virgins."

" You know things are bad when that starts happening. " She buried her head in her hands and silently bemoaned her situation, "I really need to get out of here, first thing in the morning I'll bid my farewells and get one of those idiots I pay to finish things here, I never need to step foot in this house or see her ever again."

Content with her plan she threw herself onto the bed pulling out her cell phone all work-related calls and messages, long fingernails skipped the contacts section of her phone filled with work-related numbers, her lack of personal digits stood out blatantly, her speed dial list was non existent, Aoife, if she admitted it to herself, was lonely, and had been for a hell of a  long time.

Sending off a reply her gaze turned to the door that joined their rooms, letting out a sigh, she remembered the very first time she'd seen her, glorious and beautiful, even more so than she had been that first afternoon in her parlor.

Styria, Austria, 1872 

"Have you seen her dancing with these gentlemen?" Carmilla pouted angrily her eyes piercing through the back of the latest man to ask her to dance, as she stood next to her sister, Elle had spent the evening being whirled around the dance floor by one man after another. 

Aoife had found herself as a reluctant nanny to her younger sister, reigning in her jealous streak and holding her back from destroying every man as he left the young woman's arms, all while feeling the burning flames of envy burning away at the pit of her stomach. 

"Yes, how could I miss it, you've been banging on about it all night." 

Elle was just one of the hundreds of young women twirling around the room, it was what happened during this time of year, the wealthy and corrupt came out for the marriage mart, all in the aide to carry forward deals and connections, it was a cattle market for women, only no one saw it, Aoife saw it enough, she'd avoided this fate but these women, they weren't so lucky and the worse bit was the believed this was their role in the world, Poor souls, they were all doomed before they have even began. 

"That should be me she's dancing with!" Carmilla spat out angrily. 

Aoife rolled her eyes, grabbing hold of her arm and pulling her back. "Remember society has rules, the same sex does not dance together, in public anyway." Greedily taking in the image of the young woman's shy smile, the candles all around them illuminating her hair a golden honey, if angels existed they looked like Elle Sheridan did at that moment, her pale pink dress hugged her figure like a loving child holding onto its mother lovingly, pink always looked amazing on her but it was darker colors that suited her, Aoife's favorite was a dark blue dress she'd seen her in only once. 

" It's a stupid rule. " 

"Indeed, yet while we are here we can't afford anyone to be suspicious of us, mother would not be pleased." Aoife reminded her. 

Carmilla rolled her eyes impatiently. "I can't watch this, I'm going to go and kill something." Marching off with an angry huff Aoife was left watching her exit with keen eyes,  sometimes the younger vampire could be far too impulsive, they did not nee her to cause a scene here now of all places. 

"Carmilla upset about her little puppy getting a new owner?" A cold voice laughed behind her, handing her a long-stemmed glass filled with fizzy bubbles, 

"You could say that." Aoife nodded, turning slightly to face her elder sister but just enough so that she could still keep Elle in her vision, the noblemen at these kinds of parties were always loose with their morals, and telling herself she was doing it for her sister, Aoife was intent to watch out for her. The thought however of anyone touching Ms. Sheridan did not sit very well with the Irish vampire. 

Matska frowned. "Are you listening to me?" 

"What, oh I missed that what were you saying?"  Dowing her glass in one gulp her sister watched her through suspicious eyes. 

"I said Theresa was asking about you last night, What is going on, you are being strange?" 

Aoife shrugged feeling the tightness of her corset under her light blue dress, the huge stick out bottom part in the back always grated on her, she'd avoided her usual date with Theresa Romano, had done for two weeks now, ever since the afternoon she'd gone to the Sheridan home, that night she'd visited Theresa but every time she would look into her ocean deep blue eyes and long satin soft scarlet red hair, the scandalous smirk cut across her full ruby rouged lips and all Aoife had seen was soft dancing sweet brown eyes that when you weren't expecting it suddenly turned green, an innocent smile that brightened up her long-dead heart and made her want to hold her tight in her arms forever, protect her from all the pains of the world, in the end, she couldn't go through with it and fled, she'd not returned and every time Theresa had tried to call on her she'd rejected her visit. "This dress is annoying me." 

"Hmm." Matska eyed her again making Aoife uncomfortable, her sister's deep all knowing brown eyes seemed to have the ability to bear into your very soul and seek out all of your deepest darkest secrets, she knew everything she'd ever tried to hide. "You're lying."

I'm not, I'm just I don't know, feeling strange this time." She confided honestly. 

"It's just a phase sister dear, I know what will take your mind off it, why don't you and I relive the old times and go on a little hunt." Matska smiled devilishly, her mouth wide her white teeth revealed fully, she only ever smiled like that when she had an evil thought. "Our very own little manhunt." 

Aoife shuffled her feet, the image of Elle turning around, she was the sun, like Adonis to Aoife's Persephone, she belonged in the deepest darkest pits of hell and Elle Sheridan was the sun, moon and the stars, everything that was life. "Why not, let's go and get some of those abrasive men who can't take no for an answer."

"Oh you, you know that is my favorite kind of sport." Matska pushed her arm slightly before both quickly leaving to begin their night of carnage and blood spilling. 

At the other end of the ballroom, a woman stood, hidden amongst the throng of debutantes and chatting mothers gossiping over matches and marriages, her all-knowing gaze followed them as they left with her eyes, just as she had watched their every move, it was important to keep an eye on them without them knowing. 

How else could she know if one would betray her, she'd recognized the familiar lust in Carmilla's eyes, she often was falling in love with someone, yet what she had seen in the deepest depths of Aoife's mystical green eyes had made her take a second glance, was that longing? 

Aoife was a hard-hearted soul she doubted she had ever let anyone near her heart, yet the raw look of want and admiration was too strong to deny, and her gaze had been firmly planted on the very same woman that Carmilla had set her fangs in. 

The woman chuckled amusedly. "Oh dear daughters you have not disappointed me this time, such a dramatic show you are giving me, this will be fun." 

 

Elle gingerly decended down the stairs, her eyes flashing around her looking for any sign of the vampire she was trying to avoid, so far there seemed to be nothing and no one around, she smiled smugly confidently walking down the rest of the steps. 

She really didn't want to see her anytime soon, especially after the rather strange dreams she had, had last night. 

While she was trying to avoid one vampire, what she hadn't expected to happen was for the front door to swing open and another vampire to be standing there her eyes boggled wide open and mouth agape, utter surprise passing over her features. "What the hell are you doing here?" 

Elle lifted an arrogant eyebrow. "I think Carmilla, it should be I asking you that question this is after all my house."

Both turned in the direction of footsteps that sounded from somewhere in the house, heading towards them, the vampire's dark eyes turned up to the woman on the stairs still recovering from confusion. "Who is that?"

"How many times do I have to tell people trespassing is against the law, and when the property you are trespassing on is mine then your life is at stake!" A cold impatient angry voice called to them, Carmilla frowned, she knew that voice but it had been so long since she had heard it, it had been decades, it couldn't be who she thought it was. 

Elle rolled her eyes at the disembodied voice. "We've been over this, it is my house, built by my father, with my mother's money, it's mine." 

Carmilla frowned, but then suddenly from the darkened hallway a shadowy figure emerged still walking purposely towards them, that old familiar stride in her step that told everyone that she owned the world and they were just leasing it from her, that arrogant swagger that so many had fallen for and she had tried to imitate before she had discovered her own style of seduction. 

When she emerged touched by the gentle light, her usually ethereal pale face the same as it always had been, how she had imagined her when she conjured up her face in her mind, green eyes each a different shade to the other stared at her with a blank expression as though for a moment she did not know her, to Carmilla it felt a bit like rejection, with Aoife one could never tell what she was thinking, Mattie had been far better to judge. 

Aoife felt her internal voice scream with rage, of all people to turn up unexpectedly and it was Carmilla. " Millarca."

Carmilla stepped back slightly as Elle smirked her laugh was not so quiet, the new arrival glared at her, Aoife simply ignored her and instead walked slowly towards her sister, a stern look in her eyes, it had been a very long time since she had last seen her sister, Aoife recalled the day, she recalled the time even. 

It had been after she stepped out from her buried confines, Aoife had insisted she stay nearby the action, no one would ever know the truth of why she had been found or how, Aoife had always kept that close, but after cleaning her up and making sure she was okay, as sane as Carmilla had ever been, Aoife left and they had never spoken or seen each other again. 

Elle was suddenly happy, Aoife did not look overjoyed to see her sister and Carmilla looked utterly heartbroken if she was capable of having such an affliction, she smiled smugly, she'd sorted that little issue out. 

"Err...Aoife are we gonna duke it out or something cause you need to warn me." Carmilla shifted on her feet uncomfortably. 

Aoife rolled her green eyes. "You and your unique phrases."

"It's been a long time." The younger sister said weakly, she'd found it hard to understand why her sister had just disappeared from her life, after centuries of closeness. 

Aoife raised a hand lightly running it along the soft curve of her cheek, a smile playing across her lips. "A very long time." That old feeling of wanting to hate her but also loving her, it was a strange sort of sibling rivalry that existed only within the green-eyed woman and she knew it, she knew the cause too. 

Right now she was here and apparently, she had only just left, so what was she doing here again so soon?


	5. Sibling Rivalry

Carmilla glared at the woman on the stairs, the amused smugness in her eyes made her angry, what did she know? What was she even doing here shouldn't she be on the other side?

"What is she doing here Aoife? Did you bring her back with some damn ouija board, trying to evoke the devil you got far worse." Carmilla scowled at her, earning a shrill chuckled from Elle.

"Why Carmilla you are being very mean to me." Elle pouted. " Don't you want to give me a kiss. "

Aoife frowned she didn't need to go there again, it had been a whole century since she'd accidentally witnessed the two exchange a kiss, the pain still seemed to linger on in her memory. "Okay, ladies put your craziness away, you can kiss and make up when I'm gone." Long gone, I'll be long gone away from here, do whatever the hell you like.

"Can we talk in private sister?" Carmilla squared her eyes at Elle, leaving her out of the loop must do something to show her disdain.

Aoife shrugged. "Okay."

" We're going to talk in private, you can go and sit on a spike for all I care. " Carmilla said smugly as she followed her sister into another room, closing the door behind them, suspiciously eyeing Elle as she did.

Swiftly turning around she came face to face again with her elder sister. Sat on the edge of the couch coolly her arms crossed over her chest, she was a world away from the Aoife she had known, and so different from the last time she had seen her, yet the cold indifference was still there.

"What is she doing here and what are you doing here?"

" Are any of those questions any of your business? " Aoife replied coldly.

"What has happened to you?" Carmilla asked letting her eyes take in the expensive clothes and shoes that adorned her body like a second skin, the perfect set of her hair, her well-sculpted eyebrows that perched on top of her eyes like a dark crown.

"I don't know what you are talking about, I've been getting richer, working, looking my usual divine self, what the hell happened to you, you look like what would happen if Gene Simmons and Harry Potter had a love child." Aoife grimaced.

The younger vampire blinked rapidly, what was wrong with her? "I look good, what are you talking about? you are the one who looks like Carrie Bradshaw with a stick up her ass."

Aoife rolled her eyes. " What did you want to talk to me about? " She sighed impatiently.

"I asked you what you and more importantly she is doing here?" She said louder than she had intended.

Aoife raised an eyebrow, she had a multi billion dollar business no one shouted at her anymore, she was like a God in her world no one dared question her, so coming face to face with her sister and her doing it, it did not sit very well with her at all. "I bought the house, I closed the deal two days ago."

" Why the hell did you buy this house? " Carmilla shrieked, why would her sister even go anywhere near this haunted hell hole.

"Reasons that are my own," Aoife said sternly.

" And what is she doing here? " Carmilla pointed to the closed door with her hand.

"It's her home." Aoife shrugged. " She's also not a ghost anymore apparently she's a living breathing woman. " And boy is she a living breathing woman.

Carmilla's eyes widened in shock. "How?"

" I can't remember whether she said or not, but I guess mother had something to do with this. "

"She suddenly found a conscience?"

Aoife shrugged. "She gave you your human life back." Saying it out loud really did hurt more than she had expected.

"Yeah, well that's gone now, I'm back on the blood supply, that is why you need to get rid of her, we can't stay here with her."

Surprising overprotectiveness overcame her as she heard the words, she was supposed to throw Elle out for Carmilla, the thought was too close to the bone. "She stays, what makes you think you are welcome here?"

" Aoife, what's happened to you, you completely cut yourself off from me for eight decades then when we finally meet again this happens. " She was confused, she was hurt. "It's like three hundred years of history and friendship means nothing to you, you were my sister." Why aren't you still?

"Yes, well family became an unwanted burden to me." Aoife sighed, standing to her feet and with rigid hands run them over her hair to make sure every piece was in place. "I didn't need, needy little girls following me around anymore, now if you will excuse me I have things to do."

"Do you know what she did?"

" I don't need to know. " Aoife shrugged.

"She's not the Elle that I knew." It was the best way she could put it.

Aoife sniggered. "Are you joking with me right now? how the hell would she be if you are looking for sympathy you've come to the wrong place, she wanted revenge, come on Carmilla you know she deserved it, she became selfish, come on you don't think she doesn't deserve that too?"

" Bu... "

Carmilla's words were cut off by a sudden commotion from the hallway, shouts a squeals came through the door sending the two sisters running for the door, saving time Aoife used something she hadn't done in a long while, walked through it.

"What the hell is going on here?" She shouted angrily as a long-haired woman held Elle in a vice-like hold, her front shoved up against the wall and her arm bent behind her. Lunging towards them she grabbed a hold of the woman's arm and pulled her away, surprising her with her strength. "If anyone is to use violence in my house it will be me, which is a warning by the way."

" What's going on? " Carmilla asked, her confused eyes going from one to another.

"Elle is back." The woman said angrily. "And Wonder woman here just lost it." Pointing to Aoife who had gently taken Elle's arm in her hand and massaged it a little, glaring at her like a grizzly bear who'd just found Cinderella sleeping in her bed.

Elle smiled smugly at the two from behind the raven-haired woman, as though with Aoife as her champion as she had apparently just saved her she was, she could do anything.

Turning to face them Aoife put on her favorite boardroom face, the one that sent everyone the message that she was in charge. "I am guessing this is the infamous Laura, Mattie told me about."

" Well, I don't know about infamous. " The woman blushed slightly earning herself a glare from her girlfriend and strangely even Elle.

"Mattie was right, you are annoying."

"Hey. " Laura shouted. "Err Carm you wanna say something here?"

Carmilla shrugged. "Well, she kinda has you there."

Behind them, the door opened and for the first time Carmilla saw Aoife smile genuinely and warmly, she frowned as Danny stood in the doorway holding her own bags and that of almost everyone else. "Seriously you guys left me to do the manual labor." Her eyes fell on the person she had not expected to see. " Aoife, OMG what are you doing here? You never said you would be here when we met during your trip to Toronto last month. " She smiled as Aoife swiftly moved forward pulling the bags from her and pulling her into a hug.

Carmilla pouted, her eyes narrowing. What the hell.

"I bought it."

" Err, excuse me but it is still my house. " Elle spoke up.

Aoife rolled her eyes. "I have some issues, but it's nothing I can't handle."

Danny laughed. "No doubt you will, I still can't believe it you are here, goodness it seems like such a long time ago since we spent any real time together."

" Aoife, what the fuck you were with Xena, and you've pretended I didn't exist for eighty years. " Carmilla spat out. "You were even in the city I live in and you couldn't even just stop by for a hello."

Aoife shrugged she felt no need in defending herself, Danny, however, was only too happy to tell the story. "Aoife helped me when I, you know changed, she was such a Support for me."

" And we were trying to save the world and you were recruiting needier little girls to follow you! " Carmilla said angrily repeating her sister's words.

"Danny isn't needy, she just needed a little saving from mother, fortunately, I was there to help." Aoife smiled at the younger woman, it was easier with Danny there was no bad blood, there was nothing but five years of a friendship that could have been deeper if she'd allowed it to be.

"I really did get a really cool older sister out of all of that." Danny beamed as Carmilla scowled,

Elle from her place still stood where Aoife had left her watched the interaction, she had seen the envy and underline crystal clear jealousy in Carmilla's eyes, she'd also seen the admiration in this new woman's eyes aimed at Aoife that she really didn't like, she didn't know why, but she didn't like it.

"This is fucking annoying." Carmilla fumed breaking Elle's quiet contemplation.

" Carm. " Laura warned.

"No, she's my sister we spent nearly three hundred years together, and that counts for nothing, if we hadn't turned up here today she'd never have contacted me, would you?" Her accusing eyes focused in on Aoife.

Aoife shook her head. "No."

The green-eyed woman ignored the blatant unmasked hurt in her sister's eyes, pushing down the budding guilt that was growing inside her heart.

Elle chuckled happily. "We've been getting on very well haven't we Ms. Drugain." Confidently closing the distance between herself and Aoife she stood as close to her side as she could. "We're going clothes shopping today."

Aoife frowned utterly confused. Are we? Did I bump my head and forget this conversation? She's up to something. "Err yeah, we're going to Waverly Earp her up." Tensing up a little when she felt her arm threading between hers

"How lovely for you." Carmilla mocked, failing to hide the distaste she was feeling in her voice, if she had expected a happy reunion when she'd first saw her sister, she was under no illusion now that it would never happen.

 

Aoife shifted impatiently on the wooden bench, it's utter lack of comfort beginning to gnaw on her patents after sitting in the same spot for over an hour, even longer since she had almost dragged Elle Sheridan from the house and threw her unceremoniously into her matte black BMW M3 car, her sister's fierce accusing eyes following her every step of the way until they had driven out of sight.

Seeing her again had more of an impact than she had ever anticipated, the gap between them she imagined would have buried any kind of feelings yet somehow it had made them worse, Aoife was torn, she loved her sister truly she did, she always had yet there was a part of her that resented her, hated her even.

Now she was forced to confront it all over again, and having Carmilla and Elle together in the same space had not helped her at all, did love ever die or did it just linger and change forms?

Shaking herself from her morbid thoughts she stood up, pushing out the creases of her shirt, what difference did any of that mean for her anyway, moving towards the changing cubicle she put her ear to the door. "Are you finished yet? I'm a busy woman I can't wait around for you all day."

An amused laugh sounded behind her, she turned around to face a strange man, his balding head glistening under the store lights, "Trust me that is not the way to get her to move, take some advice I've been married for nearly thirty years, just sit back and wait, she isn't coming out until she is ready."

Aoife paled. "Wait, she isn't my wife, wait don't leave she isn't my anything!" She shouted after him, burying her head in her hands when he lifted his hand into the air as though dismissing her. This is not going very well.

Turning back to the door she knocked it as loudly and as fierce as she could without breaking down the door, "Hurry up."

"I'm nearly finished." A small muffled voice called from inside. "I'm afraid I'm going to need a little help."

"What?"

"I have found myself a little stuck."

Green eyes grew wide. "I'll go and get an assistant."

"No, you come in here and help me, I'm a lady I don't want strange eyes on me."

"Err..." Rubbing the back of her neck nervously gingerly opening the door her eyes closed, closing the door behind her once she was inside the small space. Just keep the eyes closed, you don't need any lasting images.

Elle huffed, her arms and head stuck in the top she had decided to try on, her head had proved to be a little too big and now she found herself a prisoner to its material, she waited for the woman to help but nothing happened despite her having heard the door open with a creak.

"Are you going to help me?"

"I can't," Aoife said.

"Why?"

"I have my eyes closed."

"Bloody vampires, you are all useless." Elle scoffed out impatiently, struggling with her confines channeling Houdini accomplishing nothing. "I really need you to help or we are never leaving here."

With effort Aoife peeled open her green eyes and the sight that met her made her chuckle, "It seems Ms. Sheridan you are a little stuck."

"That is what I have been telling you."

Aoife stepped a little forward helping her disentangle herself from the clothing and freeing herself, the other woman's cheeks reddened as Aoife smirked, trying desperately not to laugh as she so dearly wanted to. "It seems that also Ms. Sheridan that it is you with the big head and not me as you accused."

"Will you shut up and stop being so smug, clothing now is vastly more complicated then I am used to."

"Actually as someone who lived in both time I would have to say now is vastly easier, throw on your clothes in seconds and be done, no need for help, although apparently, that isn't true of some." Aoife couldn't resist it, she leaned in closer so close that her lips hovered dangerously close to Elle's their noses kissed barely. "Maybe you would like me to offer myself in that position a little more permanently, undressing you." Her voice as thick as honey, Elle felt a shiver of tingles run down her spine at her closeness, the feel of her lips a whisper away from touching hers. "I'm very good at it."

The image was a little too real for Elle, pulling out of her presence as though it would pain her to be near her anymore, her back hitting the wall hard with her speed to be away. "No thank you."

Aoife bit down the misery she felt at the look of revolution in the woman's eyes, one lesson she would need to learn, never do that again she didn't need to see how visibly she despised her, the very thought of touching her made her look sick to her stomach.

Shrugging as though it were nothing Aoife turned back to the door. "You'll be needing new underwear too I imagine, so that's the next stop, hurry up I'm starving and I really don't want fast food this afternoon, I'm not in the mood for catching it." As fast as she could she exited the cubicle and waited for her to emerge.

 

When Elle finally did emerge twenty minutes later, Aoife had her head bent over her cell phone another employee who had no idea how to follow orders was skirting with a very painful death she mused silently as she bit her bottom lip, she focused in her own little world she had not noticed that Elle stood right in front of her.

Elle stood, waiting as patiently as she could muster, she was still a little shaken after their encounter, it was not something that she was used to. A pile of clothes sat in her hands the ones she had chosen to wear out of the store hugged her body perfectly, maybe a little too immodestly for what she had been used to wearing in her day but they still felt wonderful.

 

Coughing a little to attract the seated woman's attention, ethereal green eyes shot up to meet her, green eyes that looked like lively green grass that skirted a field of snow as it melted and dissolved.

Aoife's mouth fell open at the sight, Elle in her usual Victorian mourning queen had been a visual treat for the eyes, but Elle Sheridan in this slim fitted long sleeves pale salmon pink shirt and a knee length leather skirt, that tied at the very top into a pretty black ribbon and had silver buttons running down the skirt,

"Wow." You look amazing.

"Thank you." Elle blushed a little lowering her eyes to the ground and tilting in her toes. "You said something about underwear."

Aoife blinked hard, had she? she really couldn't remember anything of what she had said not while she was staring at her, she looked so beautiful, she enchanting it was hard to concentrate on anything else. "Oh yes, of course, we need the underwear department."

She stood to her feet and motioned in the direction they needed to go, it was a usual place for her to shop she soon began to realize that being stuck in a section full of women's underwear with a woman from 1872 full of questions about flimsy underwear was not good at all.

Elle eyed the underwear curiously picking up a pink cotton-silk skinny thong. "What is this contraption?"

Aoife's eyes widened with mortification, "That's .... err well you wear it."

"It can't be very comfy, it must get stuck a lot." Elle mused flexing it between her fingers so much it sprung up into the air and hit Aoife in the face, she just pulled it from her face as a middle-aged couple passed them, the man she recognized from earlier.

"She says they aren't married, if you aren't you should definitely make it official, you are technically acting like a married couple already." He chuckled following his wife, ignoring how Aoife's eyes glared into his back.

"He's annoying, just put this back and stop messing with things, definitely stop attacking me with underwear." Unless it's yours and you are doing a strip tease for me, crap that isn't a good place to go. She handed her the small material to put back, their fingers brushing against each other, she felt her face blush, turning away to hide it from the modernly naive young woman.

"What did he mean we were like a married couple?"

"Err..just ignore him, he's clearly really nosy, just find some boring practical ones and let's get going," Aoife said flustered.

From somewhere on the rack Elle pulled out a sultry satin black lingerie set, putting it against her body to see how it would look, Aoife felt the heat rise up her neck at the sight, the image of Elle in it without the clothes in the way was far too powerful. Holy Mother of Jesus, is she doing this on purpose?

"I like this one." She smiled sweetly.

Oh my goodness she can't wear that under her clothes, it's all I'll ever see in my mind when I'm talking to her. "Just go for the plain cotton ones, it's easier." Easier on my sanity.

"Oh my goodness there is a red one too!" She shrieked too loudly, making Aoife groan loudly, hiding her face from the crowds that had chosen that moment to pass by them.

Suddenly a wicked gleam grew into her eyes as she drew nearer to the other woman, "Once when my father did not know, I purchased a rather naughty pair of lingerie from my dressmaker, it was very scandalous French silk." Then something clouded her vision. "I had bought it before the trip I had hoped Carmilla would enjoy it."

In two seconds Aoife lost the whole taste for shopping and mentally undressing Elle, of course, everything was about Carmilla still even now it was, and how lucky was she that she could return to her newly purchased home and find the wonderful Carmilla Karnstein. "I'll wait for you outside, you can finish up here, here is my card, buy whatever you like." With a swift motion, she was out of the store and out of Elle's sight.

I'm so fucking stupid, for even going there again, the sooner I leave the better, I just have to get rid of everyone in my house, maybe not Danny we can catch up and have some fun together.

 

Carmilla slouched down more in the chair her legs slung over the side as she glared at Danny, she looked so happy and carefree it was nauseating, and it had all started the moment she'd seen Aoife Drugain was here.

She was my sister before she was yours.  She childishly thought to the smug vampire, she'd ben brooding over this for hours ever since Aoife's hasty retreat taking with her Elle, what the hell was she doing with her anyway?

"How did you meet Aoife?" She finally spoke.

Danny looked up from the old book between her hands contemplating her reply. "It was a visit she made to the dean actually, on campus the dean insisted that I get to know her, and so I did she proved to be what helped me pull away from the road I was going down."

"Heroic Aoife saving the day." Carmilla said sarcastically.

Danny frowned. "Actually she's pretty inspirational she helped me start up my practice, gave me a loan to do it, she really helped me a lot if it wasn't for her I wouldn't be doing what I do today."

Carmilla smirked, raising her glass to her mouth and taking a big swig. "How wonderful for you." But curiosity got the better of her, maybe Aoife wasn't as consistent as Danny was making her believe. "And how often do you two talk?"

Danny shrugged, moving her brown hair from her eyes. "Often, I guess a couple of times a week, I call her because she has this I'm too cool for school thing going on, she kinda reminded me of you at first but then I saw it was all an act, she takes my calls and we talk for hours sometimes and as I said earlier she's visited me often in Toronto or if I'm in whatever city she is living in I will meet her there, we're kinda close."

"As close as twins it seems Xena."

"Hey it's not my fault she doesn't like you." Danny defended herself.

Carmilla felt anger build up inside her, anger and jealousy. "Don't go thinking you have the edge Xena, three hundred years we were like you describe, as close as blood sisters could be, until...." Until 1872 and a brief moment in 1917, then nothing. The pain laced a hole through her static heart, why did she hate her so much, when had it started? and why after so long did it still trouble her?

The door opened and swiftly in breezed Laura a troubled look on her face. "Okay so who is going to do the explaining about baby Angelfish and the fact we need to kill them?"

Carmilla rolled her eyes. "This happens so much it just feels normal now."


	6. News

"The world has changed so much." Elle sighed wistfully her eyes traveling around her as outside the car windows life continued at speed.

Aoife had just pulled up to traffic lights still mentally kicking herself for being such an idiot in the store, even more for caring so much. She turned to look outside the passenger window, past Elle's profile to see mother's pushing futuristic looking strollers, teenagers rushing past their heads bent over cell phones dozens of cars zipped by them at speed.

"It feels so long ago since I traveled these streets in a carriage pulled by horses, my father was obsessed by those horses they were breed by some distant relative of the Emperor."

Aoife's eyes moved from the drudgery of modern day life to the beautiful profile of the woman sat in the passenger seat, her thin lips pressed firmly together in thought, her long eyelashes battered and shifted as her eyes took in the changes around her, like a fallen angel sat so innocently, Aoife's gaze turned to the pulse in her neck pumping harder than usual as she swallowed hard.

The urge to lean in and kiss the soft gentle curved plains of Elle's neck was far too enticing, as though hypnotized she leaned forward slightly stopping short when Elle suddenly turned to face her.

"What are you doing?"

Aoife's eyes widened with embarrassment. "Nothing, I was just trying to get a closer look at what you are seeing out the window."

Elle eyed her suspiciously. "Don't think about biting my neck." She told her with a fierce warning.

" Wow, thanks very much for that I clearly have no idea how to control myself around someone with a pulse. "

"You are a vampire." Elle shrugged.

Aoife raised an eyebrow, leaning closer her arm across her seat. " I'm the same vampire that saved you from Ms. Eager to punch back there, maybe you owe me something. "

"How about I don't sprinkle holy water on you."

Aoife laughed turning back to the steering wheel and facing forward waiting for her turn to leave the queue of cars. "Oh, poor little Ms. Sheridan, you don't know yet that nothing about the church scares me, I faced my fears a long time ago, just after a priest murdered me."

" What? " Elle's eyes were as big as saucers as she gazed at the driver, startled she had not ever expected that omission. "I thought you just chose to be a vampire."

The raven-haired woman laughed sarcastically. "Nope, no one would choose to never feel their heartbeat, or feel their breath catch when they see something beautiful, that's the life of a vamp, they can fall in love but their heart can never physically beat for that person." The cars before them scattered letting her breath a sigh of relief as she shifted into gear and advanced forward, their journey back to the house was underway again.

Elle felt her eyes drawn to the vampire, her attention fixed ahead of them alert to any movement that happened Aoife's hard grasp on the steering wheel changed as she moved and turned.

Elle became almost fascinated at the sight, remembering her dream the night before filled with images of Aoife each with hands that were knowing and capable.

"Have you ever been in love?" Elle surprised herself by asking although she had no idea why she was so interested in knowing.

Aoife turned to face her for a second before turning back to the road ahead. "Yes." You. 

" Who was it? "

You. "A girl I grew up with, her father was an adviser and warrior to my father in the Drugain clan."

Elle frowned. "What was her name?"

" Her name was Niamh. " Aoife said briefly.

"Pretty name," Elle said enviously of the woman, who she imagined was long dead considering how old she imagined Aoife to be.

Aoife smiled Niamh's smiling face appearing in her mind. "She was, she had the sweetest little dimple in her left cheek, I used to love to make her laugh just so that I could see it."

"What happened to her?" Elle whispered.

Aoife sighed sadly. "I was born during a time of great troubles in Ireland, the English wanted to conquer it and a lit of clans and noblemen were in favor of it, but then there were the ones who hated the idea of being dominated and invaded by the English, my family was one, after I 'died' Niamh married the man I was arranged to be married to, two years later she died in a siege."

" I'm sorry. "

"It was life, for women especially it was hard, one of the weapons of war is rape, many women met their ends at the hands of an evil man sent to do another's evil mans bidding."

Elle thought for a moment, she felt for sure Aoife wouldn't have let that go. "What did you do?"

Aoife shrugged.  "I remembered back to when I would sit in front of a roaring fire enraptured in the stories my mother would tell of the old Ireland when the clans were strong and the Formorians roamed the green plains of the valleys and they fought with the godly Tuath Dé." Suddenly the image was so clear, the darkened stone room illuminated in the center by the bright light of the bare fire, the dark consuming the outer edges because her mother liked the atmosphere for telling her stories.

Aoife gasped her little legs lifting from the ground as her chin rested on her hands. "What then Ma?" 

Aisling chuckled at her only daughter's eagerness, letting her deep blue eyes rest on the little girl over the flames of the fire, moving it slowly to her sons all sat captivated. "Aoife married King Lir, but Lir had been married before her, to her sister, and had four children, Aoife she grew so jealous of that fatherly love that one day she lured them to a lakeside and turned them into swans." 

The children all gasped loudly. " I would 'ave punched the wee lass. " Connor raged lifting his arms in front of him as his father had shown him. "No one turns me into a Swan." 

Everyone chuckled at the red-haired boy. 

"I saw ye run from a butterfly yesterday." Finbar laughed. 

" Did not, we were going in the same direction. " Connor pouted, his lower lip sticking outward. 

Aisling chuckled loudly at her sons antics, her soft motherly glow settling on them all as she watched them, once she had been afraid of such things, in her youth motherhood had terrified her, but when she looked un her children now, she felt pride, love and still afraid, the world was such an unpredictable place, especially as she felt unrest growing in her land, she hoped and prayed they would find their way through. 

"What happened then?" Aoife asked, wanting to know more of her namesake. 

" She placed a curse on them all that forced them to spend three hundred years at that lake followed by three hundred years on a river opening to a stormy sea and three hundred years at a frozen lake in the North. " 

Patrick hissed. "She really likes the number three hundred." 

" I hope our Aoife has no stepchildren, maybe it's all in the name. " Banan laughed earning himself a cold glare from his younger sister. 

"I would not, I would be kind because they had lost their Ma." Aoife defended. 

Aisling smiled warmly at her only daughter, she was proud of her, beautiful she had her dark hair and pale features mixed with her father's unusual green eyes. "That's right Aoife you would." 

" What happened then? " Ciarán jumped onto her lap eager to know the end. 

Aisling pulled him into her arms, his chubby little face brightening up under his mother's attention. "When nine hundred years had passed the children returned to human form, they realized with great sadness that their beloved father and all their family were long gone." 

" Oh no. " The chorus echoed from one child to the next. 

Aisling nodded her head placing a kiss on Ciarán's soft brown messy hair. "I know, all were dead except Aoife that is, as punishment for her evil deed she had been turned into a crow, doomed to roam the world in that form for eternity." 

Aoife gasped afraid, was that a foretelling of her future as doomed as her namesake to be an ageless crow alone and doomed. 

Aoife shivered for a moment the familiar realization that the prediction had come true, she was Aoife the crow as doomed as the ancient Irish queen had been, somewhere even now she flew through the Irish skies and gazed down at her once noble and rich land.

"Are you okay?" Elle whispered lifting a hand to the other woman's arm in concern.

" Yes, it got a little bit too real there. " Aoife smiled awkwardly, the feel of her arm on her burned. "It's been a while since I thought about them."

" You miss them. " It wasn't a question.

"Every day, one of the stories she used to tell was about an ancient Irish High Queen named Macha after she succeeds her father she needs to defend her right to rule, she married one, defeated another in battle and oddly chased a thirds son into the wilderness of Connacht, men found her attractive one by one they followed her into the woods to sleep with her, but she overcomes them all and makes them her slaves, I became Macha in Aoife's guise, I realized men were easy to play so I did, that was my revenge and when they least suspected it, when they were expecting honey I gave them my sword or fangs."

Elle paled for a moment she had felt pangs of empathy for her until she reminded her of what she really was, a murderous vampire.

"I got every soldier who hurt my Niamh and I made sure their death was as slow and painful as I could muster, I wasted no pity on their useless forms." 

Elle pulled back a little, slightly afraid of the faraway look in the depths of her green eyes, as though for all the world she was still there reliving it, punishing the people who had murdered the woman she loved, Elle felt herself feel a little sick, she'd fallen for a woman who wanted to feed her to some monster, why couldn't she have found someone with the same devotion, minus the vampire affliction of course. 

Aoife shook herself away from her memories. "So let's get you back."

"Me?" Elle asked confused. 

"Yes, you, I have plans that involve me and a flight to anywhere but here." Aoife smiled grimly. 

"You weren't leaving until Carmilla arrived," Elle stated. 

Aoife rolled her eyes. "She has that impact on a person." On me. 

"But what about the other woman, the brown haired one, you seem to like her, you could stay a little longer." She had no idea why exactly she was trying to get her to stay, but somehow being stuck in her house alone wasn't something she liked the idea of. 

"Maybe." 

 

Carmilla jumped up from her chair as soon as she heard a car pull up pushing herself into the window to see if it was who she thought it was. 

Sure enough, Aoife had pulled up, right then she climbed out of the doors, Aoife looking as elegant as ever, Carmilla frowned her sister had changed so much, she used to have some heart about her but now she was just like a block of ice. 

Only to her though she noticed watching as Aoife walked around the car and opened the door for Elle, smiling a little as she did reaching her hand out for the woman to take it, and with a gentleness that looked foreign to the new Aoife Drugain she pulled her out, Carmilla was so transfixed on the scene she hadn't noticed Laura walk behind her until she placed her chin on her shoulder. 

"Whatcha doing?" 

"Nothing." Carmilla tried to move away, finding she was blocked in and Laura was not willing to move just yet, the dark-haired vampire groaned when she saw where her girlfriend's gaze was fixed. 

"This is getting to you isn't it?" It had been only a few hours since they had arrived but she'd noticed it, it this continued she didn't want to think how much more moody Carmilla would get, a grouchy vampire was not a good one to be around, especially when Carmilla went into one of her sulky moods, it was hard to get her out of it. 

"No," Carmilla mumbled. 

"It is, Carm it's been eighty years maybe she is just having a bad day."

"A bad day that stretched out eighty od years, so much that she can come to the city I live in and just act as though I'm not there, if she can go to dinner with Danny, then she was so close I could have walked there in moments." Carmilla groaned with misery. 

Running her hand softly through the strands of her hair Laura sighed, she didn't know what was going on the other vampire, all she knew was whatever Carm had told her about her. "She'll come round, maybe she was just shocked to see you."

"Yeah, and after we tell her about why we're here I'm sure she will be out the door as fast as you can manage to blink." Carmilla sighed. 

Laura shrugged. "it's not like we expected her to be here, or anyone else for that matter." 

"Aoife says she was given her life." 

"By who, by your mother?" 

Carmilla nodded her head. "Who else would be powerful enough to do it?" 

"So is it even worse now that Elle is not a ghost but a physical being?" She had the one thing she'd set out on her crazy devious scheme to achieve so did that mean she would be normal now or was she still hooked on revenge? 

Carmilla's eyes turned to the window again, they were gone now just the car sat there waiting. "I don't know, but for some reason, my sister has become some kind of protector for her."

Laura frowned for a moment. "Did they know each other back then? in 1872."

"I guess they did, they met a few times but I'm not sure they knew each other very well." Carmilla shrugged. "Why?" 

"No reason." They do look kind of cozy together. 

"My sister doesn't do socializing, in the old days she and Mattie would end every night by devouring the most annoying arrogant guy in the party, it was her way of letting off steam."

"What an enchanting woman," Laura mumbled. 

Carmilla chuckled. "You have no idea cream puff, there was one time we were stuck in Budapest in 1800, the whole city was infested by a team of vampire hunters and one caught me."

Laura gasped. "No, what happened?"

"There was no way out I was trapped, just as he was about to pierce the stake through me and I feared I was already lost, suddenly through this heavy impassible door emerged Aoife a badass look on her face, the one she uses when she really means business, her huge sword in her hand, a dagger came flying through the air hitting him square between the eyes." 

Laura blinked. "Quite a story, it's hard to believe that is the same woman." 

Carmilla smiled sadly, nodding her head. "Yes, it is, she'd searched for days to find me, and risked her own life running into a whole den of hunters to save me, now she looks like she would through me in to them and run away, I was weak from lack of blood, I had to watch as she fought about twenty or thirty hunters all for me, I never thought there would be a time when we would be like this." 

The door behind them opened suddenly and a very cheerful voice met their ears. "Have you seen how clean this place is? I'm shocked." 

"So Perry knows how to make an entrance." Laura laughed. 

 

Aoife threw herself into the chair, the library had been her chosen place to retreat away from Elle and definitely away from Carmilla, closing her eyes she leaned her head back against the back of it, sighing as she recounted the day's events. 

She'd left Elle to go up and put her things away, she still needed to recover after that lingerie section disaster some time alone was what she really needed before she left, the urge was half-hearted but she knew why, and she knew she needed to push forward and cut herself off from it all, from them all. 

The door creaked open, she didn't open her eyes to see who it was, at that moment she really didn't care who it was. 

"I was just thinking about the Budapest incident." A smooth familiar voice spoke. 

Aoife opened her green eyes to find her sister standing in the doorway, one shoulder higher than the other as she hunched over with uncertainty. 

"What have I told you about posture Mircalla." Aoife sighed. "Straighten yourself up or you will end up having a full-time job at Notre Dame."

Carmilla smiled ignoring the use of her name. "Laura would like to live in Paris I think."

"Lucky you."

"Have you, I mean aren't you dating someone or whatever some friends with benefits thing going on?" Carm shrugged awkwardly when her sister still sat cooly on the chair. 

"No."

"Oh."

"Not everyone is destined to not be alone forever Mircalla," Aoife said coldly, rising from her chair and turning her back on her sister, blocking out the old pain that still glowed in her chest. "Anyway, I prefer the simplicity of being alone, no one to question me, no one to control me, just sex on my terms." 

Carmilla frowned it sounded like a very sad life to her. "No one to talk to,  no one to listen to all your fears, no one to..."

Aoife turned around angrily, her face stopping Carmilla in her tracks. "I'm sorry did you think I wanted to trade romance stories with you Mircalla?"

"Stop calling me that, it's Carmilla now." 

Aoife rolled her eyes. "As if your name makes any difference." 

The younger sister narrowed her eyes, feeling anger pile up in her chest, why did she hate her so much? "What's your problem you are making Lex Luthor look adorably cuddly right now?"

"My problem is I bought a house, and then you turn up, why are you here Mircalla?"

That damn name again, Carmilla lost control of her anger. "When we killed the Angelfish the thing was pregnant, we left a ticking time bomb and now we've got damn near hundreds or thousands of angelfish in there."

"What the fucking hell, why didn't it kill the eggs?" Aoife gasped. 

"I don't know, it's kinda like our luck actually so it was always going to happen." Carmilla shrugged. "That is why we are here, we have to kill them."

"And how do you plan on doing that Indiana Jones?"

Carmilla smirked. "Maybe we throw Elle down there again."

Aoife frowned, "Think of another idea, to get her down there again you will have to go through me and you know just what I am capable of." Her warning was intense. 

"Wow, calm down grizzly bear I was joking, as if I'd be doing that again, plus Laura has a no casualty policy, well unless someone is trying to eat her and turn her into gingerbread then she's all Oh, Carm Murder her for Christmas, even after she was totally just like will you smile it's Christmas, I wore a stupid Christmas sweater for her and everything."

Aoife grimaced feeling a headache building. "What are you talking about?"

"So are you going to bail out or help us?" 

 

Outside the door, Elle stood silently listening her ear to the cold wooden door she'd had an angry fit when she'd heard the solution to the recent baby Angelfish problem and after everything she had suffered through she had to admit it sent a cold chill through her. 

Yet something she hadn't expected had happened Aoife had sounded so firm so fierce and her heart began to burn with something that was so foreign to her she wasn't sure she had ever felt it before, she wasn't sure she could even name it. 

The door opened suddenly and Elle ended up falling into the library luckily she found herself falling into the body of the person who opened the door, a stunned Aoife stood awkwardly holding Elle a little too closely, stunned at having her literally throw herself at her. 

"Were you listening to our conversation?" Carmilla accused her. 

"Back off mighty mouse," Aoife growled at her, righting Elle back on her feet as the women straightened herself out. 

"Whatever, if you are leaving you should probably go you wouldn't want to stay here with us commoners for any longer than you need to!" Carmilla huffed out storming past them. 

Aoife followed her with her eyes, "This is my house, you need my permission to stay here!" She called after her. 

"Screw you!" She called back without stopping. 

"She's charming isn't she?" Aoife sighed. 

"I'll not let them throw me in there again," Elle said firmly, there was no way she could go through with that all over again, not after she'd finally after everything gotten her life back. 

The vampire lifted her gaze to the other woman a fierce protectiveness in her enchanting green eyes. "There is no way I will ever let anyone harm you, I will throw myself in there before I let them do that to you. " Again. 

Elle blushed slightly, the fierceness of her words hit home somewhere Elle hadn't expected them to go. "Thank you, I had hoped though that you wouldn't need to do that." 

"Now that I think about it, we don't know what we will face and the world isn't a kind place, I will teach you how to defend yourself." So you'll be ready to face the world when I'm gone. 

"So you aren't leaving?" Elle asking sound far too happy at the prospect of her remaining, 

"Not yet, I guess you and I better go and hear the whole story."


	7. Okay, So We Have No Plans..So far

Aoife made long confident strides through the hallway, cutting in and out of doors all while Elle following behind her trying her hardest to keep up, which trying to do that while the person you were following was a vampire was extremely hard to achieve.

"Can you wait for a second, what do you mean to defend myself?"

"Nothing, run along little one I have to find out what the hell is going on," Aoife replied without feeling.

Stopping in the middle of the hallway Elle sent Aoife a frustrated angry look, stamping her foot on the ground annoyed, the light glow of a candle illuminated a part of her face, "Stop calling me that and get back here!"

 

Aoife chuckled. "You should stop doing that you look way too cute." She swung around suddenly, her eyes meeting Elle's. " So cute I could eat you. " 

Elle gasped. "You wouldn't dare." Her English accent cutting through every letter.

Aoife laughed sending her a devilish wink. "Only if you really want me to."

"I really wish you would not look at me like that, you look like you really do want to eat me."

Oh, honey you really have no idea. Instead of going through her long list of fantasies that involved her doing just that Aoife used her usual old routine and acted as though she had no idea what she was talking about and if she did, she really wouldn't care. "Sure thing Ms. Sheridan, now if you will excuse me I have to go and sort this whole thing out, the quicker I'm done here the quicker I can leave, I'm a very busy woman "

"We're all busy Ms. Drugain." Elle shot back at her as she turned away, she'd been very busy being tortured for a long while, she wished she could have just left. In her mind she was the one with the issues, in her house she had two vampires she hated and some other miscellanies people.

" If you say so, but I have a business to run, I can't do that from here. "

"What is your business?" Elle followed her suddenly intrigued to know more.

"I buy crumbling failing business and then flip them, then when they are profitable again I sell them for ten times what I bought them for, I also do the same with houses, hence how I ended up here."

" That sounds unethical. "

Aoife raised an eyebrow turning as she walked. "Yes, and your point is?"

"Nothing."

Aoife stopped suddenly swiftly turning, her body locking Elle against the wall with a blunt force, her hands keeping her trapped, Elle gasped with surprise, wishing for the first time she had some of the powers she'd gained as a ghost.

The vampire leaned in closer her full body fitted against the slightly shorter woman, their faces far too close as she whispered, her voice low and husky. "The world is an unforgiving place, it doesn't care if you are alone, or if you are sad, it doesn't stop for you to feel better, I learned that a very long time ago after a blade was thrust through me from behind, and despite the costume changes and better hygiene the world is still the same old medieval bullshit."

" That's ominous. " Elle whispered.

"Yeah, but it is but its better to face reality than to live in a dream, and to be ready for the giants waiting to pull you down to earth you need to be strong and with your nine-inch stiletto heels stab those Bastards in the eyes before they get the chance."

"Is that some life advice for me?"

Aoife chuckled, her eyes moving down to her lips. "Maybe."

" Tha...nk y..you. " Elle stammered confused, Aoife's presence like a bomb that detonated inside her and a whole whirlwind of feelings tumbled upon her.

"No problem, I cou..."

" Hey what....oh I'm sorry. " A startled voice said behind them, Elle used both hands to push her away, with the ease as though she were wearing skates Aoife moved backward rolling her eyes at their intruder.

"What did you want Lorna?"

" Err its actually Laura. " The woman blushed, she was pretty sure she'd walked into something intense.

 

"Yeah, like it matters." Aoife sighed bored leaving them both behind to advance on her way, frustrated and very pissed off with Laura for having turned up at that very moment and even more with herself for doing it in the first place.

With the angry vamp gone her footsteps still ominously echoing around them, Laura turned her focus onto Elle, not someone she ever expected to see again, especially in a physical form.

Elle scowled at her. "Staring is very rude you know."

Laura shifted on her feet. " I know you were angry but what you did was wrong. "

"I tried to warn you, from the very beginning I tried to warn you as my mother had tried to warn me in my dreams." Elle shot out angrily.

" What? "

"If I had listened to her then I could have saved myself, but you, you never took any notice of me you little buffoon, you carried on."

Laura frowned. "No, your mother warned you from your dreams?"

Ellie narrowed her eyes at her, she'd never told anyone about the dreams of her mother. "Yes, I was never sure if it was her, but a voice would say Your mother warns you to beware of the assassin. I was such a fool to never see it until it was too late."

" Your mother did not mean Carmilla, did she? "

Elle shrugged. "When it would happen a sudden bright light would reveal Carmilla standing at the foot of my bed, her nightdress drenched in blood."

" Maybe your mother meant Aoife, she was around then, wasn't she? " Laura asked trying to subtly change the subject and maybe confirm a suspicion she had been stricken with. 

Ellie eyed her cautiously. "She was there." In all of her dark brooding glory, there had been times when to look on Carmilla was to see the sunshine so blinding in her eyes, then she'd find Aoife and the whole world turned dark again, it had frightened her at the time. "Yet she was detached, and far away even when she was near, it was as though no one could touch her while she gazed at the world through her glass cage."

 

Aoife pushed open the door groaning when she realized it was literally filled with people, it was like her dreaded board meetings she had to attend or an unwanted party she had to present herself at.

The room now darkened by the going down of the sun was lit by candles that adorned large stands, their flames danced erotically on their wax stages for the inhabitants of the room's pleasure, only no one noticed.

Her eyes moved to her sister unamused. "So you have a crew." when her attention fell onto Danny she smiled accepting the place she offered her by tapping the space next to her. "That's cute."

" Brilliant, that's all we need another wise-cracking vampire. " A firm sarcastic voice spoke, earning a dramatic frown from Carmilla and Aoife, so similar that at that moment they resembled biological siblings and not just foster vampiric sisters adopted by a morally dubious Goddess.

"Your little posse is just delightful Mircalla, when do we begin I feel for sure we'll get this done in no time, especially with the guy with his butt on fire on our side." She pointed with her elegant fingers to the young man, everyone turning their gazes to see.

Indeed there was a man with flames sticking out of his behind, the guilty candle stood shamelessly behind him, still dancing without regret.

 

" Oh my God Kirsch your ass is on fire! " Danny sighed standing up to

"I've waited a long time to hear that from you." He smiled innocently. " Is it me or is it really hot in here? " He loosened his collar in an attempt to release the heat.

Rushing towards the overheated candle victim Danny used an old cushion to smother out the fire as he leaped in the air upon seeing the yellow flame sticking out of his behind, his long legs kicking out like an uncoordinated long-legged spider. 

Aoife watched with startled amazement, then slowly turning to her sister. "Oh, yes, no need to worry here, we'll have it sorted by breakfast."

Carmilla frowned at her sister's negativity. "Can you please stop being so negative, we've done this before."

" Yeah, I can see that one over there clearly lost a few brain cells in the struggle. " She laughed.

"Err, no he was already like that." The same sarcastic woman replied.

" Oh, well maybe it's genetic. " Aoife shrugged, watching as Danny returned to retake her place next to her.

"That's Kirsch," Danny said indicating to the bashful fool in the corner. "And everyone else here is Perry, Mel, and Lafontaine, of course, you already know Carmilla but she's really easy to forget so that's Carmilla." Danny pointed to each member of the room in turn when she got to Carmilla she couldn't hide the little bit of satisfaction she got from seeing the annoyed anger in the deepest parts of her dark eyes.

Carmilla growled internally, wasn't it her job to do the introductions? Why was Danny Lawrence acting as though she and Aoife were bonded for life and had been for decades? That was supposed to be her, her sister wanted to sit by, her she smiled at, she was her sister.

At that moment the door opened and Laura entered soothing Carmilla with her warm loving smile, which was interrupted when half way through her entrance she tripped over something and ended up on the ground.

Aoife rolled her eyes. "Yes, no worries here."

"I'm okay." Laura pulled herself up from the floor, dusting herself off.

" Oh, you don't have to worry there is no dust here, I've checked. " The soft voice of the woman Danny had introduced as Perry told her.

Aoife smiled happily to be complimented although the woman had no idea she had done such a thing. "Why, thank you I got a whole team in to purge the whole place of dust and cobwebs."

Carmilla pouted. Seriously she likes everyone now?

"Oh, it's wonderful I noticed it right away I tried my best when I was here but sadly I couldn't do very much alone, I tried conscripting everyone but nothing." 

" We weren't here to clean Per. " The one introduced as Lafontaine sighed out.

"You should never be too busy for cleanliness."

Aoife nodded in agreement. "I like you." And she is way better not she isn't being possessed by mother. 

" Oh, thank you. " Perry blushed slightly the red pinkish tinge to her skin almost matching the color of her hair.

"Come along Perry we have some research to do," Lafontaine said grouchily pulling her by her arm towards the door.

"Well done." Carmilla challenged her elder sister.

"Oh shut up, You have two people on your team who are competent, aside from me of course, and I'm liking the look of Hawkgirl over there." Aoife pointed to Mel. "And you came here with no plan?"

" We usually find we go with the worst plan and then go from there. " Laura said slightly embarrassed from her trip and also feeling slightly intimidated.

Aoife groaned, "You mean to tell me you have no plans and your team makes the crew of the Waverider look like the squad of the starship enterprise."

" Is that an insult? " Laura asked confused. "Because I'm nominating myself as Sara Lance just saying, putting it out there right now for you all."

 

Feeling lonely and left out in the corner Kirsch came to stand a little closer. "There is one thing, with so many people here where will everyone sleep?"

" Stupid question to ask me. " Carmilla mumbled under her breath.

Aoife frowned slightly, "Well as you all insist I must be the obvious choice to share with Ms. Sheridan, I'll just go and give her the good news." Quicker than she intended Aoife threw herself up from the chair and out of the room in search of her new bedroom mate.

Laura turned to her girlfriend, a soft encouraging smile on her face. "She'll come around, who could not love you?"

" Thanks, Cupcake. "

 

Elle moved further under the covers as she heard the door to the bedroom close, the footsteps and then saw her.

Her hair down, flowing around her shoulders freely like long black curtains of satin silk illuminated by the candles on the side of the table.

Her face now free of makeup and in a casual nightwear she looked far less intimidating and a lot more human Elle could almost forget that she hid a set of fangs in her mouth.

Aoife walked towards the bed, cursing her own idiocy for even suggesting such an idea, she should have suggested she share with Danny.

Elle eyed her cautiously as she moved the covers back and slipped inside. "I thought vampires slept in the day."

Aoife chuckled. "Society functions in the day little one."

"Who suggested this arrangement again?" Elle asked clenching the covers closer to her despite watching the vampire pull out her cell phone and check the screen.

" It was a group decision. " I wasn't letting anyone else share with you.

"Oh."

" Yes. "

"What are you doing?" Elle wondered after a small moment.

" Reading a book. "

 

"On that? where are the pages and the sounds, the magic of a book." Elle shrieked out with outrage. 

Aoife lifted her gaze to her bed mate. "Any book I want can be read from this, any book at all, and I can take them all everywhere I go just by carrying this around with me."

"What are you reading? "

"It's a book of poems by Christina Rossetti," Aoife said turning her attention back to the book, she'd read these poems so many times since they were first published that she knew them all by heart.

Elle gasped with delight forgetting to be afraid and cautious and throwing herself across the bed to lean over Aoife, her head on her arm as she was pressed up close, her eyes keenly roving over the text on the screen.

Aoife stopped moving, her nearness felt far too good, her sweet scent was intoxicating, the feel of her breath hitting her skin as she read the small poem.

"Who has seen the wind?   
Neither I nor you:   
But when the leaves hang trembling,   
The wind is passing through. 

 

Who has seen the wind?   
Neither you nor I:   
But when the trees bow down their heads,   
The wind is passing by."

Her soft elegant voice felt angelic to her ears, Aoife closed her eyes through every word spoken, her words caressing her with soft invisible fingers.

"What do you think it means?" Elle asked sweetly.

" I think it's about losing someone. " Aoife said knowingly, turning to look down at the other woman's head. "And even though you can't see them anymore, you can still feel them all around you, still think of them, they are still with you no matter what."

 

Elle's eyes held into Aoife's for a moment silence stretching out around them as tension began to build, just as Aoife began to move her head down to meet her lips in a long-awaited kiss, Elle's eyes flashing between the vampire's lips and eyes, an unfamiliar heat building from the pit of her stomach, disaster struck.

A loud groan came floating through the thin wall that separated them from the next bedroom, an aching ancient bed began to sound louder and louder, as the groan became a moan and the moan a strained strung out name. 

Aoife's eyes grew wide with mortification as Elle turned her gaze away avoided her eyes entirely, even she knew what the noises were.

Really need to move Carmilla and what's her name. She silently noted, she couldn't let their sex life ruin any small tiny little chance she had with Elle, also she really didn't want to hear her sister having sex, that was just too weird. I was so fucking close. 

"So, is that your favorite Rossetti poem?" Elle asked changing the subject and moving back to her place on the bed away from Aoife as far as she could get. 

"Actually it is not my favorite at all, it was until I read this, I recall it vividly sitting in a small quite quaint restaurant in Paris, it was a ghastly December afternoon, dark at three o'clock in the afternoon, a fierce wind blowing around outside, I noted the date it had first been written it resonated with me, so I began to read," Aoife whispered, the poem was written in 1872 just a week after Elle's sacrifice, but only published in the early 1900s. 

"Show it to me please," Elle whispered as she watched Aoife turn the digital pages to find the poem that she desired, then without hesitation handed over her cell phone for her to read the words written. 

With slow care Elle read each line softly pronouncing with such sweet softness that it was almost like a caress against Aoife's cheek, a long-buried memory of her mother's storytelling became so strong that she thought she could smell the burned wood from the open flame of the fire. 

"In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,  
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;  
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,  
In the bleak midwinter, long ago.

Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain;  
Heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign.  
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed  
The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.

Enough for Him, whom cherubim, worship night and day,  
Breastful of milk, and a mangerful of hay;  
Enough for Him, whom angels fall before,  
The ox and ass and camel which adore.

Angels and archangels may have gathered there,  
Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;  
But His mother only, in her maiden bliss,  
Worshipped the beloved with a kiss.

What can I give Him, poor as I am?  
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;  
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;  
Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart."

The poem had been as real to Aoife as anything she had ever heard or read in all of her days on this mortal coil, it had been like that when she had met Elle, anyone else would have gone to the woman and confessed their feelings and yet for Aiofe far beyond not ever wanting to her Carmilla or the threat of rejection and humiliation was knowledge that she had nothing to give anyone as sweet and wonderful as Elle Sheridan had been. 

So it continued the poems of Christina Rossetti had been a commentary of her feelings of a woman she had no right to feel anything for and a vessel for all of her dashed hopes and dreams, the place where it was safe to pour out her feelings and emotions. 

Elle chuckled slightly shaking her head. "I would never have guessed you were a poetry fan let alone a fan of Ms. Rossetti." 

Aoife raised an eyebrow in challenge. "Never just a book by it's cover Ms. Sheridan, it will lead you down the wrong path, or bookstore at least." 

The same moans grew louder as the hard thud of a bed hammered against the wall, Aoife pursed her lips. "So, we have some pretty noisy neighbors."

"Oh, yes that is for sure," Elle replied quietly. 

The green eyed woman bit her lip nervously, in doing so Elle came face to face for the first time with Aoife's pronounced vampire teeth, intimidating and strange, the sight wasn't so frightening, especially as she looked so uncertain and lost. "I don't understand her, how can she forgive everything so quickly and...do this." Elle blushed slightly. 

Aoife turned to face her, curious. "I don't know." A smirk appeared across her mouth devilishly. "When I learned of what she did, how she went against other, God, I felt so proud of her, I'd taught her how to survive and how to get by when she became a vampire and I'd never been so proud as that day when mother appeared before me to bemoan her wayward beloved Carmilla." Their eyes met again. "Sometimes the situation you are in you are there because you see no other way so you settle, you sit there longer than your heart tells you, you should and then sometimes that's all you need, for someone to show you that it's not the only solution, that there are other ways."

"I had no choice," Elle said angrily. 

"I know, but maybe you should start looking forward now, I know what happens when you keep facing behind you with anger and fear, it just eats you up until you are empty and forgotten," Aoife said knowingly. 

"Maybe, but right now I have some unfinished business with an angelfish, I can't move on until every single last one is vanquished," Elle said with determination. 

Aoife groaned loudly, Brilliant, now I really can't leave her here all alone. 


	8. Throwing Knives

Aoife opened her eyes slightly noticing a change around her, shifting upwards onto her elbows on full alert her eyes traveled around her.

The room lit by only the intoxicating flow of gothic style candles that stood like soldiers standing to attention at the corners of the room.

The gentle breeze of wind from the open window blew the spider web curtain out into the room, casting shadows around the room that moved exotically.

Aoife frowned, around the bed suddenly curtains drew closed boxing her inside. "What the hell is going on?" She shouted out. " Just so you know I can kill you in 0.1 seconds without you even noticing me move. "

Through the end of the bed, the split of the curtains a shadow emerged lit up by the glow of the candle flames through the slit a gentle hand emerged beckoning her closer with her finger seductively.

"This isn't good." Aoife mused to herself.

Curious the vampire moved to the bottom of the bed towards the hand, without waiting, the hand wrapped around Aoife's and led her through the curtain.

Emerging on the other side, Aoife gasped with surprise, the room suddenly transformed before her eyes as though changed by a spell of magic, mirrors now circled the room, still dimly lit by only a few candles that dripped wax carelessly onto the ground, in front of her hand still held in hers Elle stood seductively a cryptic, flirtatious smile lifting her soft pink lips.

 

Breasts bulged out of her shimmering silver slim fitted dress, Aoife gasped trying to move her hand away, clearly, she was ill or having some kind of turn to be acting this way.

"Ms. Sheridan, what are you doing?"

" You should know. " She smirked pulling Aoife into her body so their whole fronts touched and pressed together.

"I should?" Aoife questioned, her brain losing the ability to function.

The smaller woman laughed softly. "Of course this is your dream."

"Dream...yeah, of course, this is a dream, why the hell would this be real?" Aoife sighed holding her free hand to her forehead.

Pulling her towards a chair that for some reason stood in the center of the room Elle gently pushed her back to sit down, straddling her legs soon after wrapping her arms around her strong neck and looked deep into her stunned eyes.

"Err I know this is a dream but I think you should get off me, I can't be going around all day envisioning this." Aoife protested half-heartedly a groan passing her lips when Elle slid her breasts against Aoife's, starting from her own heaving chest up to her neck, and her mouth, a hardened nipple playing and enticing along with the soft parched plains of Aoife's red lips.

"Really, how can I talk to the real you?." As she spoke her lips unintentionally grazed the sensitive stiff peaks causing Elle to let out a pained moan, her hands gripping harder behind the vampire's neck as she shifted restlessly on her lap. "Oh, God..."

The gentle release of breath from the other woman was her undoing, Aoife let the tip her tongue caress her nipple, exploring her breasts as her hands nervously began to reach her thighs, traveling up to her bottom.

Letting out a loud groan as she pulled Elle harder into her the scent of fresh earthy roses cascaded around her engulfing her in its heady intoxication.

"Can I kiss you?" The question of quiet and uncertain, so much that Aoife did not recognize her own voice.

Elle smirked enticingly lowering her head slowly towards Aoife's until their lips were almost touching, Aoife's hands itched to pull her closer, to make their lips meet, even in a dream fulfilling a fantasy she'd had for over one hundred and forty years.

"Oh, jeez this is gross am I interrupting anything?" An annoyingly familiar voice asked.

Suddenly Elle moved away disappearing backward until she was absorbed by the dark, her smirk still set in place as Aoife mourned the loss of her prized kiss.

Hard green eyes turned to the smug new arrival, "What do you want Mircalla?"

" Obviously not what you want. " She laughed.

"Shag off it's been over one hundred and forty years I was so close just then." Aoife groaned with annoyance.

"Sure, Aoife."

" What? "

"Aoife."

" What the hell do you want? "

"Aoife!"

" What the fuck do you want? "

"Aoife wake the hell up!"

The impact of something hard hitting her made her jump, opening her eyes too soon hissing baring her teeth at the suddenness of the light that emerged through the window. "What the hell, close the drapes, you moron."

Carmilla shrugged stepping backward to draw them closed before turning amused eyes onto her elder sister. "Having a wet dream, were you? I didn't know that happened to five hundred-year-old vampires."

Aoife growled impatiently. "Get lost." Throwing the harsh book she'd launched at her, back at the annoying vampire.

 

"You said something about it being over one hundred and forty years." Carmilla approached the subject, she'd been confused. "What did you mean?"

Aoife flustered, rising from the bed clear in the fact that if Carmilla was here that meant Elle was not. "It doesn't mean anything it's just a dream, and what the hell are you doing in here anyway?"

" We both know that's not always true. " Carmilla said knowingly, ignoring her grouchy question, she had never been very good after being awoken.

"Mircalla I have no time for this, I have to get started on Elle's lessons today." The woman moved past her making sure not to be too close, there must be no risk of touching her, Carmilla felt the sting of rejection again, she was beginning to feel that Laura was wrong, Aoife just hated her.

"Lessons."

" It's none of your business. " Aoife dismissed her as she exited the door leaving Carmilla alone with a sea of sadness washing over her.

 

Draped entirely in black, big dark shades over her eyes and a black hair that slanted over her face Aoife ventured out into the front of the house, looking like a reclusive glamorous movie siren, plump red lips glowed under the attention of the sun.

Elle followed behind taken aback by her almost frightening demeanor again she had become the intimidating vampire, the ice queen had returned, the Aoife of last night so soft and approachable was gone again, lost in the time it had taken her to fall asleep and wake up again.

With model-like grace, she led the way to her car where flipping open the trunk with ease she pressed a button and a part of the trunk parted to the side revealing an arsenal of weapons.

Elle gasped. "You carry these around?"

" Of course, you never know when you may need them. " The green-eyed woman shrugged.

"And I used to think my father was being over the top when he carried his pistol when we traveled," Elle observed her eyes staring at the array of swords, knives, daggers nunchucks and anything that shouldn't be in a car yet, here it all was in a hidden compartment of Aoife's car. "I'm not sure I want to share a bedroom with you anymore."

Aoife rolled her eyes, she was already annoyed with her, she'd spent her sleep dreaming about her and when she'd gone downstairs this morning she'd found Elle alone talking with the fire butt idiot. She'd definitely seen flirting going on.

"Don't worry I have no intention of doing anything to you, well of course if you asked me nicely I could help you out, starting with my old by now request to eat you." Aoife wiggled her eyebrows up and down suggestively.

Elle frowned confused. "You keep saying that, my answer is still no."

As a result, she'd almost put her fist through the wall and was now in the most intense bad mood she'd had for a long while, she knew she had no right to be angry or feel anything, but it seemed so unfair, she'd chosen Carmilla, why couldn't she choose her?

"We're starting with the basics today, but I want to start you on knife throwing accuracy, it's the fastest way to disarm someone or kill them outright."

" How did you learn all of this? "

Aoife shrugged. "I was the only girl and had five brothers my father taught us together, Ireland was a really dangerous place then, the war was boiling in the air until it exploded."

Aoife picked up the small daggers from their containers and closed the door, locking it behind them. "Come on little one, ballroom."

Elle watched her breeze elegantly back to the house, how she walked so gracefully on her high heels she would never know yet she did.

Footsteps sounded behind her. "Hey, dead girl."

Elle turned to face the owner of the voice, scowling with a great pout when she saw it had been the woman who had shot her with a crossbow. "What do you want?"

Mel smirked. "The next time she says that to you, you should take her up on her offer."

" And why is that? "

"You'll like it, it means she wants to get between your legs." With a bemused smirk, she waltzed away heading herself back into the house.

Elle's eyes widened with shock and outrage, that was what it means, she'd said that to her a hundred times in just a few days, yet underneath her outward emotions, Elle found herself intrigued.

 

Elle opened the door cautiously to the ballroom her mind still a little short-circuited from the revelation, her eyes darted around her trying to find where the vampire stood.

When she found her, she found her fitting a board to a wall at the far end of the room, the new feature stood out in the elegant room when Aoife turned around their eyes met and Elle felt her breath catch in her chest.

Stood amongst the shallow darkness of the room, hidden from the searching sun outside the heavy window, Aoife waited, her full lips pouting waiting impatiently.

She suddenly was transported back to the one ball her father ever threw, and Aoife had very much been in attendance.

Styria, Austria, 1872

_Elle stood at the side watching as the dancers swirled around in the center of the room, the last time she had danced Carmilla had gone off into a fit of jealous rage, and Elle had hated to see the sadness in her eyes, so tonight as promised she danced with no one despite her father's encouragement._

_He stood now wooing a group of middle-aged widows and ladies who hadn't buried their husbands yet but wished nothing more than to dance on their earthly graves, Elle shook her head with disapproval, his tall sturdy form towering over them, like an aging Greek God visiting from Olympus._

_She wondered sometimes, she loved her father but she found her mind drifting to the possibility that her father had not been faithful to his wife, she hoped beyond all hope that he had been for her mother's sake, but wasn't all gentlemen unfaithful to their wives? Even if they started off life as devoted husbands their attention soon wained and their eyes began wondering for new flesh._

_"You look deep in thought." A familiar voice said happily behind her, turning around she met the warm smile of Carmilla, that wasn't what put her on edge, she had said she would be coming with her sister but Elle had hoped that sister had not been Aoife, yet there she stood next to her sister, taller and like an ominous chilling demon, her incredibly deep, luminous, haunting green eyes piercing through her, sending a chill down her spine. "You remember my sister." Carmilla smiled at the woman, who in turn sent the other woman a soft smile._

_"Hello, Ms. Sheridan," Aoife said, her soft quiet enchanting accent whispered to her huskily, her slim dark eyebrow rising upwards, her hair slicked back high upon her head with perfection, not even one stray strand of hair fell out, draped all entirely in black she looked like a woman in mourning._

 

_"Yes, Hello Ms. Drugain," Elle said shyly._

_Aoife rolled her eyes, the difference in her attitude towards Carmilla and then to her was like night and day, she was beginning to regret agreeing to come at all, she should have listened to the voice of caution in her mind and stayed away._

_The moment she'd spotted her, even from behind she'd felt that familiar rush of emotion that began whenever Elle Sheridan was around._

_"You look so beautiful tonight," Carmilla said easily, her smile stretching across her face as though it was the easiest thing to do in the world, Aoife watched through unamused eyes as Elle blushed and batted her eyelashes wildly._

_Aoife sighed, she was bored already, was this really to be her night, having to watch Carmilla and Ms. Sheridan flirt together and act as though she hadn't noticed?_

_It seemed like_ a fitting revenge _after centuries of toying with people, satisfying her own desire and then when she was done just leaving without a goodbye, it seemed like justice being served after she had been unable to save Niamh._

_It still didn't take the pain away, however, and it didn't make it any easier to accept._

_"I wanted to show you something Carmilla in the library," Elle said happily slipping her arms under the other woman pulling her away towards the door and heading to the library._

_Aoife watched as though in slow motion they walked away their heads bent together, a laugh erupting from them, her feet itched to follow them, her imagination conjuring up images of what exactly she was showing Carmilla in the library, she guessed it wasn't a book._

_"Excellent, now I'm stuck alone." She whispered to herself unamused._

_A hand slithered upon her shoulder, she rolled her eyes she didn't need to turn around to see who it was. "Hello Mother, I didn't know you were invited."_

_"You know me, dear, I can get an invite to anywhere, and if I can't I just show up, they never turn me away, and if they do well then it is the last thing they ever do and I merely step over their dead witching corpses."_

_"How enchanting of you."_

 

_Her mother chuckled, she had been watching them together she knew what had gotten her so ill-tempered. "Why daughter dear, why are you so upset, you know you shouldn't worry about your sister stealing your little lady love, she won't be around long enough after all."_

_Aoife frowned a volcano of rage erupting away at the very pit of her stomach, of everyone why had Carmilla chosen Elle Sheridan? why was it fair that her vibrant bright light had to be thrown to the monster? "As you say, mother." She bit her tongue and held in her anger._

_"I spy a sweet looking blond in the corner, she has her eyes glued on you." Her mother pointed to the woman, who's blue eyes smoldered when Aoife turned to face her._

_"She looks like she has something in her eye." Aoife shrugged._

_The older woman drew closer to her until her mouth was level with her ear to whisper. "Why don't you go after them dear, make sure they aren't getting up to anything rather naughty, can't you imagine them now Aoife dearest? Carmilla and her usually seductive self, hot stolen kisses, wandering hands, they may have even made use of a desk or two."_

_Aoife frowned. "I just remembered that I need to borrow a book." Swiftly she made her way across the ballroom, following the path set by Carmilla and Elle moments ago, her mind stirred up by images of everything that haunted her dreams and frightened her during her wakeful moments._

Aoife tired of waiting cut across the room, ignoring her own pangs of remembrance she'd found her way to the library and found what she had feared, it was one thing imagining the woman you loved kiss someone else, it was quite another to witness it with your own two eyes, and Aoife had felt her whole dead heart torn from her body, it had been at that moment she fell into the hole of being resigned.

Elle Sheridan loved Carmilla, that had been her choice to make, and equally it wasn't her fault, the heart was a strange organ and emotions stole up on you without even asking permission, that was what had happened with her and while Carmilla had moved on she was stuck.

"Okay, so this is the board, as you see I've put some snaps up to use as targets." She shrugged.

Elle watched the pictures with interest. "I see, and you used Carmilla."

 

"Only pictures I could find."

"Really, the only ones you could find?" Elle questioned disbelieving her words.

 

They may also have been the only ones she had looked for, but she'd found them and now they were their targets. She ignored the other woman's prolonged questions, she was probably feeling offended her one-time lover was being used for such a thing.

Turning to face the board she took the small knives in her hands, a smirk on her face. "It has been a while since I've had to do this, but you never lose the skill." Swiftly and effortlessly before Elle could hardly blink she had thrown all six knives and they all landed square in eyes and foreheads of the pictures, she did feel a little guilty about that.

Elle gasped, impressed. "How did you do that?"

"Practise." She shrugged going to pull them out of the board and walking the short distance back to Elle, handing her the weapons. "Now you try."

"And I just throw."

"Yes, throw, let me see your technique."

"Okay." Elle tried her best to imitate what she had just seen Aoife do, yet her first thrown dagger dropped halfway to the board with a clash to the wooden floor and the other five weren't far behind it.

She turned to see what she imagined would be anger and impatience in the vampire's green eyes yet what she saw there astounded her, her brow was furrowed as though she were contemplating and her eyes were clear and focused, She's not angry.

Suddenly Aoife was behind her, far too close. "I'm just going to help you get into the best position okay."

"Okay," Elle whispered, feeling far too many senses having her this close, Aoife used her hands to move her legs apart slightly, moving her right side of her body slightly in front of her other.

"This should be your stance, you are using all the weight on your dominant side, we'll work out using your left side when we have mastered this side, so try again."

"Okay." Taking a deep breath Aoife turned towards the board again, still in the same stance as Aoife had placed her in she lined up the first knife and aimed it in the air throwing it harder this time, it hit the board but bounced back off, she tried again with every knife, while she was better than the first time it still wasn't great.

She turned to Aoife, a smile on her face that made Elle question what she was so happy about. "You see how much better that was that, just by changing how you stand, now you just practice, keep throwing and throwing." Aoife encouraged. "This is all you can do at this stage, just keep on practicing."

Disappointed Elle nodded. "So I guess you will be leaving me alone to do this."

"No, how else can I teach you if I am not here with you?" Aoife said softly, taking an available chair at the side. "So come on, take it away." She pointed to the board. "Throw the knives at dear sweet Carmilla."

Raising an eyebrow Elle took in her words for a moment, there seemed to be far more than she was saying, shrugging she turned away from her and faced the board, aiming a knife and after a few moments throwing, it didn't hit the mark, but it still hit the board.

She jumped into the air her legs flying backward in an exuberant jump of happiness, hands up in the air. "I did it, did you see it, I did it?" She smiled.

Aoife chuckled softly. "I did see it, now do it again."

Calming herself down Elle took aim again, and again the knife hit the board, elation filled her chest as she turned almost breathless to face the vampire who still held an encouraging smile, Elle turned back to throw another and then another, until she ran out of them and fix out of six were hanging from the board.

"Are you using my picture to throw knives at?" An angry shocked voice asked.

Aoife turned to find Carmilla standing in the doorway, her eyes drawn to the board and then to her. Aoife shrugged. "We needed an annoying face."

 

"Terrific."


	9. A Midsummers Night Dinner

The long elaborate dining table was filled with inhabitants, each one going through their own little turmoil in one confined space.

Laura had been busy trying to console Carmilla, who had spent the whole of dinner scowling at Danny, who had rushed to sit in the chair next to Aoife, and both had, had their heads together throughout the whole time they had sat at the wooden dining table.

Sat opposite them Elle had been busy passing her own glare of irritation and suspicion at the two vampires who sat far too close for her liking, next to her Perry habituated the next seat admiring the clean table and cutlery, earning herself a few warm smiles from the ever-scowling Aoife, which in turn had made Carmilla, Lafontaine, and Elle unhappy, and Kirsch had spent the evening talking exclusively to Elle, earning himself a very near touch with a very violent death, while Mel sat back and enjoyed the show put on before her, a very willing audience.

Laura sighed with exhaustion, their dinner this evening resembling a modern take on A Midsummer Nights Dream in every way she could imagine.

With the electric down for another day, until they could deliver the generators in the morning, a vast order of Indian food had been ordered.

 

"I would really love your advice on this issue, maybe when we have completed our mission here you could come to Toronto for a week or so, it will be cool to catch up properly," Danny asked cautiously she knew Aoife was fond of her but she was always aware of pushing too much with her.

Carmilla was glued to their conversation.

Laura leaned across the table_to whisper. "Just ignore them."

Aoife shook her head. "I won't be able to make it." She said flatly.

Carmilla grinned happily, sipping from her bottle leaving a slight red mustache above her lips.

"Oh," Danny said disappointedly.

" I mean that I won't be able to come so quickly after, I will have to check in with my employees, but I could make it in a few weeks. "

Carmilla frowned again, as Danny's smile blinded everyone around the table.

Elle rolled her eyes, she'd found herself faced with a cuisine she had never had before, and while fazed at first she had become enchanted after just one bite.

She'd been brought up in a world where such foods would never have been considered acceptable, food had been bland and boring, staple meats chicken, beef, pork, goose, duck her dreaded rabbit her father had made her eat as a child. his favorite dumplings with beef stuffing and sauerkraut, fillet of trout with forest mushrooms the cook would issue her with the basket to collect them with the sweet kitchen maid Hilda, everything had been so simple.

"That's excellent." Danny smiled happily. " You know instead of checking into a hotel you could just stay with me, I have the spare room and it would be easier, I think. "

Carmilla and Elle each waited for the reply leaning forward their arms leaning on the table, each with their own motives anticipating the reply.

Aoife smiled. "Okay."

Carmilla sat back with a thud into her chair, her lips twisted, unamused as Ellie lifted her annoyed gaze to the ceiling.

"Cool, I really do look forward to what you think, it's an interesting case."

Aoife nodded. "I can imagine, let's hope we clear this up quickly." Her cool stare turning to the waiting eyes of her sister, a smirk cutting across her mouth, enjoying the torment she saw in her eyes.

Their eyes held for a long moment until Carmilla grimaced, her anger lose her hands landed on the table with a violent thump, pulling herself up and storming from the room.

Laura flashed her head around to fave her, standing up to go after her girlfriend, sending Aoife a long scathing accusing look before she left.

 

Aoife slouched down into the comfy chair in the hidden confines of the library, maybe she'd gone a little too far accepting Danny's invitation in front of Carmilla.

She sighed taking a drink of the thick red liquid in her glass, lifting her legs up onto the desk in front of her, musing about that dark violent afternoon when after forty-five years of searching she finally found her.

October 31st, 1917, Kobarid, Austria-Hungary

_Aoife stood at the sidelines watching as the ground exploded violently up into the air, the earthy soil resembling an ocean wave crashing on the jagged rocks of the shore._

_She'd been plotting, biding her time and gathering information until she'd found what she had been looking for, a lead, a lead in the form of her mother's former lover._

_Baron August had been only too easy to prise any information from a youthful handsome wealthy man in 1872 now he wore the signs of age and the ravages of a lifetime of younger mistresses to impress and keep. A little flirtation some batted eyelashes and he sang like a canary in a cage._

_She knew her location, finally, then after plotting feeding false information to both sides, they'd met, hundreds of thousands of Austria-Hungarian and Italian troops faced off in a brutal battle, if her calculations were correct then this bomb would uproot her sister's coffin and free her._

_Aoife watched nervously perched on top of her mysterious black Murgese, her eyes intently running over the sacred pockmarked land, large shadowy worm-like creatures crawling and clawed their way through the mud with desperate intent, moments ago they had been full-bodied men, now they were mere bodies of men._

_Time had turned her cold to such things, humanity was a disease who created war because they wanted it for greed, for richness, they feared such creatures as vampires yet the man walking across the street from them they felt safe living alongside._

_A figure moved in the distance unnoticeable at first until she stood up amongst the carnage, unnoticed amidst the chaos around her, soaked in blood shaking._

_Relief like she had never felt before flooded her, as swiftly she jumped from the back of her horse, slowly walking the distance like a valkyrie scanning a Norse battlefield looking for warriors to take with her to Valhalla, some beseeched to her, lifting their hands up to seek her blessing, she ignored them, they were not her mission, they were not her concern._

_"Carmilla." She spoke softly, reaching her hand out to her, she swallowed hard as Carmilla looked down at her hand, forty-five years alone in the solitary confines of a box must not have been easy, guilt again laced through her. "I'm here now."_

_"Aoife. " She whispered a strangled cry caught in her throat._

_"Yes."_

 

_Suddenly the guns stopped and the bombs died away, the moans and cries of dying and wounded soldiers fizzled away and finally, amidst the settling dust and earth, two sisters stood, one reaching outward the other stood stiffly, cautious._

_Then when Aoife had given up hope Carmilla launched herself forward into her sister's body and wrapped her arms around her tightly, mindless of the blood Aoife pulled her closer wrapping her in her protective embrace, finally letting a tear fall from her eyes._

_"I gave up hope you would come for me." Carmilla cried._

_The sword of guilt pierced through her heart. "I looked for you every day."_

_Weak, Carmilla's legs began to buckle, with ease Aoife lifted her up and carried her to her horse lifting her up and climbing on after racing from the death field to the safe house she had arranged._

_Carmilla was safe, but the guilt would never fade, Elle was gone forever._

Aoife felt sick to her stomach, she'd ignored her sister's sad, begging eyes and left, she'd done her task but to stick around and try to be as they had been would have killed her.

Now to make matters worse Elle was back and after decades of fleeing the horror feelings she had to face both Elle and Carmilla, not to mention a really annoying girlfriend of her sister she was hiding from because once she started Aoife feared she would go deaf, or mad whichever happened first.

The door opened suddenly, Aoife groaned audibly when she saw the aforementioned annoying woman enter like a Queen entering another's realm.

"You!" She pointed her face stern, reddened.

 

" Yes. " Aoife shrugged.

"I don't like the way you are treating Carm, she doesn't deserve your taunting."

Aoife sucked in her cheeks accentuating her cheekbones even more, her eyes flaring with anger. "You know nothing, so I suggest you keep your mouth shut."

" Or what? " Laura challenged firmly standing her ground even if she could feel her knees knocking at the raw feral look in the depths of her green eyes.

With menace in her movement, Aoife raised herself up from the chair. "Or I will shut you up."

" You are just a bully, I don't run from them ever. "

Aoife rolled her eyes. "You should run, it's been over a hundred years since I've had to catch my food, I'm prepared to make an exception with you."

 

" You wouldn't dare! " Laura said firmly.

Aoife chuckled. "No I would dare, there is nothing with which I have not done in my time, daring me is a very bad idea Lauren."

" My name is Laura, Laura Hollis and if you took an interest in your sister's life you would know that! "

"And why would I do that? My sister has very bad taste in women, I've spent hundreds of years going over the same routine, all boring, bland and deathly beige, I really don't want to waste time in your presence, you may leave Lois. "

"Laura." She sighed.

" Yes of course, bye. " Aoife dismissed her turning away from her and heading further into the shelves of books, cutting off any reply she had bubbling away. She'd address the part of her that was impressed another time, she'd faced up to her to defend the person she loved, that was a very rare thing to find.

Of course, Carmilla had found it.

From the shadows stepped an unexpected guest, but after five years of the same thing, she wasn't as fazed as she had been the first time.

"Mattie!" She sang happily.

" More lady drama between you and our sweet Carmilla, don't tell me you've fallen for the taming of the shrill too. " Her sister asked slowly approaching her emerging more from the cast shadows.

Aoife grimaced. "Eww, no way."

Mattie lifted an eyebrow. "Me thinks the lady doth protest too much."

"Me thinks that quote is way overused." Aoife rolled her eyes, still feeling her stomach after being linked with the annoying crazy woman, who in their right mind would ever date her? The answer was obvious, Carmilla would. 

Mattie smirked knowingly. "You forget sister, I know you better than anyone."

" Not this time you don't. "

"Not even for one of Carmilla's old toys? "

"You knew," Aoife whispered.

"You didn't hide it very well Aoife darling. " Her eyes watched her younger sister carefully. "Do you remember the time you found them in the library?"

I try not to. "Yes."

" You looked like you were going to tear Carmilla apart, mother had a good game of it all, but it's good you aren't into this one, we don't need more Lesbian drama. "

"Tell me about it." Aoife looked to her sister feeling a sadness. " I miss you. "

"Hey, don't go getting sentimental on me Drugain, we creatures of the night cannot afford such softness. "

"Yeah."

" Come here, give me a hug before I leave. " Mattie held out her arms when she first became a vampire it had been Matska who had taught her how to survive as one.

It had been no joke to say when she had heard of her death she had cried for weeks, then suddenly one night, there she had been sat as large as day on her sofa.

 

"Bye, darling see you soon." 

 

One thing Aoife hadn't checked when she had sought refuge in the library was to see if there was anyone else inside first. 

And as she did not, she was unare of one thing, Elle also was seeking sanctuary in the same room. 

Elle had taken up a place to hide after she'd finished eating, so she could avoid any more inspired conversations with Kirsch and so she could escape Aoife's everything, so much as she had done in her youth she had sat down hidden amongst the vast shelves of the library, the books here were her friends, they'd never harmed her. 

When she'd heard the footsteps, somehow so familiar to her already, she'd hidden even more the fact she'd heard her conversation with Laura prayed on her mind, what had it meant? Everything Aoife said seemed to have no conclusive answer, there was always something left unsaid. 

She'd known how Carmilla saw her sister, she'd seen it with her own eyes, so what had happened in the time since being thrown into a pit as a sacrifice and now to make Aoife so against Carmilla?

Just when she was about to quietly exit, Aoife had begun talking again and another voice had sounded through the room, it was strangely familiar but without seeing their face she couldn't say for certain. 

So she was still stuck, waiting for Aoife to leave or the opportunity for her to actually get to leave, she really didn't want to be stuck all alone in a deserted library alone with Aoife Drugain, she was ignoring the bit that now they had to share a bedroom. 

She'd waited so long that slowly her eyelids began to grow heavy and her thoughts began to grow sparse and sleep soon grew too heavy and great t battle that she simply fell into a slumber, propped up against the shelf behind her, her legs pulled up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them, where she bid farewell for a momentarily welcome to a blissful sleep. 

 

Elle slowly opened the door, wincing at the creek that sounded loudly through the whole room and sliced to her eardrum like a hot knife cutting through butter. 

The whole bedroom was cast in darkness, only the light of the silvery moon high up in the dark sleepy night sky shine through the window, with slow caution Elle tiptoed into the room, heading towards the bed, slipping her shoes off. 

Her eyes traveled to the bed, Aoife wasn't there, she hadn't slept there either the bed was untouched, it was gone two in the morning, where was she? 

A presence suddenly appeared behind her, a slender elegant hand crept slowly and seductively up her shoulder, searching seeking fingers explored the contours of her neck as she held her breath. 

The familiar rich intoxicating scent of bergamot with a trace of ginger filled her senses acting almost as a drug that made her shiver and shake. 

She felt her draw near, felt her fingers move the trails of hair that protected her neck from exposure. 

Aoife drew nearer, the sight of her soft skin and the feel of it under her fingers was too enticing the urge to place a soft kiss there was too much, she hovered just above, her lips urging her to move forward. "Where have you been?" She asked in a husky whisper, that made Elle shiver, even more, small bumps appeared on the skin of the back of her neck, ran up and down her arms like small trophies of arousal, that she couldn't quite put a name to. 

"I fell asleep."

"Where were you sleeping?"

"In the library," Elle replied quietly. 

Aoife frowned. "Library, all night?"

"Yes."

Aoife trailed her hand from her shoulder to grasp her hand in her own and slowly but not giving her any time for refusal turned her around, Elle avoided her gaze. 

The green-eyed woman lifted her chin with a single finger, their eyes linking and holding. "You were hiding."

"I wasn't." Elle lied. 

Aoife chuckled. "It's very naughty to tell lie, Ms. Sheridan, maybe I should show you what happens to naughty girls who lie to me." 

Elle felt her eyes pierce through to her very soul as they lingered and then with slow deliberate intent traveled down her body meeting at the base of her neck. Aoife smirked at the sight of her pulse accelerate, how it beat faster under her gaze.  

"Ca...Can you call me Elle?" The slightly shorter woman asked nervously. 

 

Aoife smiled at her, "In my mind, you are always Elle." Before loosening her hold of her and moving swiftly around to the other side of the bed, leaving Elle left standing, stunned, she'd thought something was about to happen, she didn't know what but she had been eager to discover it. 

"Is that it?" She asked. 

Aoife shrugged innocently. "What else did you want?"

Elle sighed, vastly disappointed even though she couldn't really explain to herself why she was, "Nothing." 

"Such a shame, I was in a very giving mood tonight." The vampire winked devilishly before climbing under the covers. 


	10. The Pit Raiders

A soft content smile played across her pale lips as she burrowed further into the warm protection she'd stumbled upon at some point in the course of her dreams.

Her dreams had been filled with horrors, of reliving her living nightmares, yet from somewhere a warm comforting embrace had pulled her close and chased all the horrors away.

In this tightly locked cocoon she reveled in a safety she had not felt for a very long time.

"Hmm." She spoke sleepily, her eyes still closed luxuriating in the silky warmth.

" Shhh. " A sleepy all too familiar voice said, Elle's eyes darted open, what she realized as warmth and protection was that she had found herself somehow locked up tight in Aoife's arms, her own head lying on her shoulder as the vampire placed her head over hers.

Oh my goodness how did this happen? Elle screamed internally, when had it happened? had they been like this for hours or just a small amount of time?

This was a whole new experience for her, the last time she had slept in anyone's arms had been as a very small child afraid of a thunderstorm and her governess had slept in her bed, she'd shivered all night long with fear, that had been before they'd left England for Styria, before her mother's early death, before she knew of all the bad things the world possessed.

Was Aoife one of those bad things?

She'd trusted Carmilla too once, and that had been a disaster, she turned for a moment and found herself face to face with the vampire's exposed neck, curiosity bubbled away inside her until it was too much to contain, slowly and gently she moved her head and with caution placed her nose against the silky velvet skin inhaling Aoife's intoxicating spicy scent.

She smells really good. Elle nearly jumped out of her skin when Aoife moved a little, tightening her hold in her, letting out a content groan, what she didn't see was the uncharacteristic warm smile that spread across her face.

Suddenly Elle's mind went to the night before, and how she'd overheard Aoife's conversation, who had they been talking about? Who was Carmilla's toy? She dismissed the idea of Laura Aoife had apparently not met her until her arrival here and why would Laura ignore all of her warnings if she would so easily cheat with Carmilla's sister, anyway Aoife never really gave her any time at all and could never get her name right.

No, it wasn't Laura, then it had to be someone else, someone maybe after her sacrifice, maybe someone before that was why Aoife had been so deeply intense, she was angry with Carmilla for throwing away someone she loved, anything could be true especially when she had no answers.

Yet Aoife had answered when she'd asked her if she'd ever been in love, she'd said Niamh, had Carmilla been there then too? Elle shook away the stupid thought, remembering that had been over one hundred years before Carmilla's death.

Who was it? She asked herself frustrated that she had no answer, there had been a time when Aoife had caught Carmilla and her in the library but without names, she was still in the dark.

Styria, Austria, 1872

_Elle shifted silently along the hallway, her dreams again had been filled with strangeness, the images of Carmilla were getting clearer and more dramatic, maybe she should not have let her kiss her._

_Her cheeks flamed at the memory. It had felt so forbidden that the kiss had felt like she was being branded by something hot and tantalizing._

_Then Carmilla's sister had found them, the look of thunder that darkened her face was not something she had expected as she watched them leave, Carmilla looking far too pleased with herself while she felt nothing but embarrassment._

_Clutching the candle tightly in her hand she ascended the staircase, maybe something to drink would help her, she hoped so anyway._

_Navigating her way through the house she pushed open the kitchen door, a swoosh of cold air met her, her teeth knocked together and her candle went out, goosebumps appeared on her arms._

_"Hello." The familiar voice spoke._

_Elle's eyes grew wide. "Have you been sat in the cold dark kitchen all by yourself?"_

_" Yes. "_

_Her eyes landed then on the other woman, Carmilla's frightening sister, her long raven black hair hung loosely around her shoulders, still wearing the black dress from the party, she sat at the cook's table a big glass of her father's expensive French whiskey inside._

_"You must be so cold," Elle said with concern._

_Aoife chuckled a little. "I don't find the cold Ms. Sheridan."_

_" Oh. "_

_Elle felt her cold intense eyes follow her movement._

_"You love Carmilla?" Her question was simple yet she watched her every move carefully._

_Elle nodded. "Yes."_

_Aoife smiled sadly, "Of course you do." She rose quickly to her feet. " Thank you for the invitation to stay Ms. Sheridan but I really must be on my way. " The vampire tried not to let her voice creak._

_"But it's gone midnight!" Elle startled._

_" There isn't a man or woman who has frightened me for a very long time, besides I find I've quite outstayed my welcome here, goodbye Ms. Sheridan and... I... "_

_"Yes."_

_Aoife shook her head, " Just goodbye take care of yourself. "_

That had been the very last time she'd seen Aoife, Elle thought grimly less than a month later she'd met the woman in town and she'd found out about Carmilla, then....then it had happened.

A shiver passed through her, spontaneously she held on tighter to Aoife and the fear it began to drip away, a wicked thought popped into her mind.

 

Elle smirked. Maybe I'll just go back to sleep and pretend I never realized what happened.

 

Aoife turned back behind her to check shed not been followed, what had she been thinking? How had she ended up very happy wrapped around a peacefully sleeping Elle?

Faster than she had moved in two hundred years since she'd been discovered in a very compromising situation with Napoleon's youngest sister, she left the bedroom and fled down the stairs.

Straightening up herself as she made it to the bottom of the stairs and almost bumped into Carmilla's annoying girlfriend. "Watch where you are going, Leanne."

" It's Laura. "

"Yeah, yeah."

Laura huffed watching as she retreated swiftly down the hall. "I'm going to make her remember my name even if I have to write it on her face." 

Aoife walked into the room, all eyes suddenly turned on her Carmilla rolling her eyes as Danny smiled again patting the empty space next to her that Aoife gladly took as hers.

"What is this kindergarten?" Carmilla said rolling her eyes.

 

" No did you even go to one? " Danny asked with a smirk.

"Nor did she!" Carmilla pointed to Aoife who shrugged unbothered by her childish rebuttal.

Lafontaine shook their head. "We have no time for your sister wars now, I'm telling you about my new device I call it the Anglerfish Finder."

" Original name. " Aoife observed.

"Oh, I'm sorry did you invent something that will help detect the demon children from hell?" Lafontaine challenged.

" Don't need to I have my weapons, my skill, my whole badass self, I go down there and kick some mini demon butt, or whatever the hell those things are. " Aoife said smugly. "End of story I go on my way and leave you losers, aside from Danny and Perry, I like them, behind."

Carmilla pursed her lips. "Is it lonely up on your pedestal Aoife?"

" You know, I've never thought about it I'm too busy making lots of money. " Aoife replied happily.

Her sister rolled her eyes. "Sure if you say so." This wasn't the woman who'd scoured a battlefield to find her, she'd become a stranger and it hurt far more than she could have ever imagined.

"So we just need to turn this on and it will do the rest for us?" Danny asked picking up carefully the delicate device in her hand.

" Exactly. "

"How do you know this works?" Aoife questioned.

Lafontaine shrugged. "I spent yesterday afternoon at the aquarium, I may have been escorted from the premises."

 

"Bothering the fish were you?" Aoife asked.

" There was one very strange Merman, I think it was him who complained. " LaFontaine shrugged, they'd bet money it had been him who had them thrown out.

"Yeah, those pesky merpeople and their struggle for Mer rights, how dare they," Aoife said seriously, everyone's eyes turned to her, no one quite sure whether she was joking or not. She shrugged. " In the early 1990s, I dated a mermaid activist. "

"How did you, you know do things," LaFontaine asked intrigued and confused.

" Yeah, we didn't, it was kinda impossible, and it was just one disaster date at a seafood restaurant, where she took the all you could eat shrimp slogan as fact and ate all the shrimp she could eat, which just a heads up if you ever find yourself dating a Merperson is everything available." Aoife shivered remembering the utter disaster she'd asked her out to try to get back in the dating saddle, try to clear her head of Elle sized cobwebs, it hadn't worked. 

"You dated a Merperson, didn't you eat one in 1788?" Carmilla asked sarcastically, an eyebrow arched up in a challenge. 

"Hey, that Merman was torturing those beautiful Bugale whales." Aoife defended herself. "Anyway, he was the fishiest thing I've ever eaten."

"Really?" Carmilla smirked. 

Aoife shook her head, when would she ever grow up? "Yes, shut up, what about when you dated that Werewolf."

"So." 

Aoife chuckled. "Are you kidding me, she left hair everywhere she went, she sat on a chair and left a whole damn wig behind."

Carmilla's eyebrows furrowed with frustration. "What about you and that witch, she put a curse on you that lasted a whole decade, we couldn't go anywhere near a redhead for fear you would start barking like a dog, why you had to cheat on her with that ginger woman I will never know."

 

"Hey, it's not my fault she was vengeful, and Catherine was utter perfection I had no choice, I was the one barking, not you Mircalla." Aoife defended harshly. 

"No, it was just really embarrassing being stuck with you, and when we went to Scotland and everywhere we went there were redheads of all descriptions I thought I'd never get to hear you say a normal word again," Carmilla stressed her forcefully, the veins in her neck standing out with the pressure. 

Danny and LaFontaine exchanged confused slightly concerned looks, how could they go and search out Anglerfish if they were acting like jealous toddlers? 

"Okay crazy vampire sisters, time out we have other business to deal with and so can we just get this over with?" LaFontaine said exhausted already. "Danny I'm putting you in charge of the Anglerfish Finder."

Danny nodded thoughtfully her eyes focused on the device in her hand. "So shall we get going?" 

Standing up Aoife turned to face the door, her gaze coming face to face with Elle, it had been the first time she'd seen her since she'd woken up in a very compromising albeit pleasurable position. 

Elle blushed slightly as Aoife lowered her gaze, if she could she would definitely blush, both promising to keep their little secret Elle suddenly took in the rest of the inhabitants of the room. "You are going now? I wanted to go with you."

Aoife gasped with surprise almost swallowing her tongue in her speed to reply. "We started your lessons yesterday, there is no way in hell that you are coming with us now, especially as we don't know what we are dealing with, you stay here and keep practicing." 

"Oh." Elle sulked disappointed her plan for some kind of real revenge had been scampered. 

Aoife sighed, her heart felt heavy at the look of disappointment on the woman's face, she was doing it for her own good, but it still didn't take away the bad feeling that she had put that ill feeling there in the beginning. Ignoring the audience they'd somehow gathered as everyone turned to watch their interaction, Aoife lifted her hand to her arm and gently ushered her from the room. 

Closing the door behind them Aoife turned to face her, "I know you think I'm being overprotective or maybe even just a real big bitch but I can't have you going down there, not now, you've only had your life back for three days it's not worth throwing it away now."

Elle took a deep breath. "You are right, I just was so set on going." Lowering her head sadly. 

 

Aoife lifted her chin up with a fingertip, some deep hidden emotion in the core of her green eyes. "I'm not letting you go anywhere near that pit again, not without being fully prepared."

"Why do you care so much?" Elle asked hoarsely, trying to swallow down the lump in her throat that the other woman's raw gaze had caused. 

Aoife pulled her hand away abruptly, shrugging. "I don't, I just want my house."

"It is my house!" Elle raged. 

"Yeah, you keep saying that, but it's my name on the deeds," Aoife said smugly. 

"You are impossible!" Elle screeched stamping her feet on the ground and charging down the hallway, she'd be throwing some knives and she would be imagining Aoife's smug sanctimonious albeit she had to begrudgingly admit gorgeous face. 

Aoife chuckled amused by her dramatic display. "You look like a child right now>" She called after her. 

Elle spun around her face red. "You....you.....ninny!" 

"Oh, excellent, that is so brilliant, you ninny." Aoife mocked bent over laughing, her arms clutching her stomach, it hurt too much to laugh this hard and this much. "Ninny." 

Elle growled, again attacking the poor innocent ground with her angry foot and set on her way to release her anger. 

Aoife was so busy stuck in her own laughter trap, her eyes watering with the effort that she hadn't noticed the door behind her stood slightly ajar, and someone stood just behind that door just happening to listen to their whole conversation. 

"What's so funny?" Laura asked slipping from the safety of the room. 

"None of your business Lorraine." 

"My name is Laura." 

"Yeah, are you sure, because I'm sure I would be able to remember your name," Aoife said with an innocent shrug. 

"Ignore her Laura she is an ass," Carmilla said seriously suddenly standing behind them. 

Again Aoife shrugged, "Thank you Mircalla, see you down the pit." 

Laura and Carmilla watched her walk away, slightly unsteady on her feet as she still laughed, the image of Elle's enraged face and her useless insult was just too much to cope with. 

"I don't like the thought of you going down there with her," Laura said concerned, moving closer to her lover. 

 

Carmilla sighed affectionately wrapping her arms around her. "Don't worry I'll be fine, I'm sure she hadn't gone to the trouble of saving me so many times to kill me down a pit, I'll be fine." I hope so anyway. 

 

 

"Come on lets Haught this thing up." Aoife rubbed her hands together gripping harder onto the rope and taking a look down into the dark hole in the ground, her trusty old sword locked in the holder on her back, ready for her to reach back and grab it at a moments notice, daggers are hidden in each of her boots as well as the holsters on her thighs. 

Carmilla rolled her eyes. "Who knew we were going down here with Lara Croft." 

Aoife narrowed her eyes at her sister. "You'll thank me if we meet trouble down there, find one of your ugly relatives!" 

"You are my relative so I guess we already met the ugliest!" Carmilla shot back with sarcastic venom. 

"Can you two stop arguing for two seconds?" Laura sighed looking down, Aoife, Carmilla, and Danny hung over the edge ready to be lowered in, the rope safely secured to an old ancient immoveable tree. "This is dangerous and you two arguing like a cat and a dog is not going to help matters." 

"You know I could have gotten down here without the rope but this is a much cooler entrance," Aoife said smugly. 

Slowly and with a lot of effort they were lowered down into the pit, time seemed to extend as they continued on their journey, until finally over half an hour later they finally put their feet on the bottom. 

Unwrapping themselves from the rope, dusting themselves off Aoife sighed. "Yeah, next time I take the easy way in."

Coldness wrapped around them as they stood in the vast confined loneliness of the pit, lit only by the torch each vampire carried the way up was now covered by dust and a blanket of blackness, even those shouting down, their voices had disappeared and vanished by the time it reached their eyes below. 

"Okay let's get this over with Xena and Lara," Carmilla said almost bored setting out to walk ahead of them. 

Aoife rolled her eyes, turning to Danny to silently pass along her annoyance, before shoulder to shoulder they followed her, walking along the long mysterious worm like covens that slithered and slathered under the ground like living creatures. 

"You know something I'm confused about?" Aoife said suddenly, her eyes glued ahead of them, turning behind them occasionally when he thought she had heard the scatter of feet or a released breath. 

"What?" Danny asked Carmilla was sulking ahead of them, scraping her feet along the ground. 

"How did she get pregnant in the first place? Wouldn't there have to be someone to impregnate her?" Aoife said thoughtfully. 

 

A loud haunting growl of a wail stopped them in their tracks, eyes darting around to each other, none daring to speak a word as the sound came out again, only this time it was louder. 

"How?" Carmilla asked. 

Aoife sighed, this was just her luck, come down to meet some little baby monsters and instead come face to face with a big massive Daddy monster who was pissed his mate had been made extinct from existence, and he was left as a lonely single parent. "Brilliant, this is just brilliant, I'm guessing that is Daddy Anglerfish."

"If it's not it's definitely Uncle Anglerfish," Danny said sarcastically, her face straight and serious as she grasped a hold on tighter to her weapon. 

"Terrific." 

Aoife's eyes widened with fright as the monster appeared, getting bigger and bigger as it approached them, "Err...I think we're about to met big Pappa bear." She pointed. 

Carmilla turned, Aoife and Danny ready for action swords in their hands, battle stances ready, Carm turned back to face them, "What the hell, so I guess Xena and Lara are ready for action, what the hell does that make me?"

"Fishbait?" Danny shrugged. 


	11. The Vamps Vs The Anglerfish

"Oh Fuck!"

" Eloquently put Mircalla. " Aoife said.

"Can you, just for this small little moment quite your sarcasm and blatant hate and worry a little bit more about the big ugly thing coming right at us!" Carmilla all but screamed at her, her hand pointing wildly as though Aoife had not noticed the ominously large black floating fish coming their way.

Aoife shrugged. "I'm not worried, it's essentially a giant goldfish, what is there to panic about?"

"Really because you're walking back really quickly." Carmilla challenged her sister.

" Of course I am, it's a fucking giant fucking goldfish! " Aoife shouted out, her accent fully blatant now her voice had lost its usual control.

"Err guys it's getting faster." Danny panicked.

"Run!" They all shouted in unison, in the few days since they all found themselves together it was the first thing that they had agreed on.

So together they ran. 

Swiftly and with speed they ran as fast as their feet would carry them forward through the great meandering giant worm dug corridors, until somehow they came to an abrupt halt, undeterred by the obstacle Aoife tried to pass through it, one of her better powers was the ability to walk through solid objects.

Only now for some reason, she crashed hard into the wall, smashing her nose in the process. "Crap!"

Backs against the wall they watched through wide eyes as the fish drew closer, his full beady black eyes staring at them lifelessly as the big jagged jaws of large yellow teeth, misshapen and crooked pointed straight at them.

" Well, this sucks," Aoife said strained. I never even got to kiss Elle even once.

"Yep." Danny agreed.

" This is it, this is how I die, again, being eaten by one of your exs Aoife. " Carmilla

 

Aoife turned a stern gaze onto her sister. "Have you finished?"

" Pretty sure I wanna talk for as long as I'm not being eaten and he has his mouth full of me. "

Aoife found the moment to let out a loud burst of laughter. "That's what Lainey said." 

"Her name is Laura!" Carmilla turned spitting with rage. 

"Are you really doing this now?" Danny questioned her hands flat against the wall in her need to escape. " I have a date next week, my first in over five years, there is no way I'm not going to make it.

Aoife watched her, her face tough yet there was a fear in her eyes, it had been far too long since she'd encountered something to fight that didn't involve her own personal demons. She turned her green eyes towards the demon fish from the deepest pits of hell, her eyes had beheld so many horrors in over five hundred years, she'd committed many of those horrific things.

"Remember what I taught you?" Aoife asked.

Danny nodded. "Yes, everything."

" Wait, what's happening? " Carmilla asked hating the fact she felt so left out, she was going to get eaten by a fish and Aoife still hated her, they were sharing something.

The elder vampire took a deep breath bracing a tight hold of her sword, with a harsh stab she planted it into the ground pulling two daggers from her thighs she braced herself.

"What are you doing?" Carmilla asked.

" He can't see us with no eyes left. " Aoife said with a shrug. "This is a little something my Da taught me." She smirked affectionately remembering the hours he'd spent teaching them accuracy.

" Come on Aoife. " Danny reminded her.

Quicker than anyone could blink the two daggers had flown from her hands and landed flawlessly into the center of the creature's eyes, it sent out a loud wail that vibrated the ground around them, dust and dirt falling from the ceiling and the sides of the pit.

Aoife smirked. "Come on Danny, we're having fish and chips for dinner tonight, and we're all out of fish."

" Excellent. "

"Err Xena, Lara can someone tell me my role in this?" Carmilla asked frustrated.

Aoife pulled her sword from the ground, "You do nothing, you rely on your powers and it makes you weak, Danny and I will do this."

Giving each other a nod. "Go for his brain." She said, both launching into a run, weapons raised high in the air arm muscles flexing with the weight, fixed fierce faces flashing as with a giant leap both jumped up and avoiding its smelly mouth and jagged Sharpe teeth plunged the metal blades of their swords into the fishes head, a crunch echoing out loudly as with a pained groan.

Carmilla watched mouth agape as the two other vampires landed on the ground again, Aoife's sword dripping with a green goo.

"Is it supposed to do that?" Danny asked moving back a little from the now vibrating fish.

" I have no idea. " Aoife whispered.

With a sudden bang, the whole fish exploded, it's insides and green goo scattering everywhere, covering the three vampires in its gross sticky entrails and painting the walls with its revolting insides. 

Wiping away some of the goo from her eyes Carmilla walked to stand behind her sister, pretty pissed at being drenched in the disgusting smelling thick gunge. "So, fish soup it is."

"Well, I wasn't expecting that," Aoife said pursing her lips, wincing at the sour taste of the green thick liquid that accidentally ended up in her mouth, wiping it away from her mouth, happy that she wouldn't have to eat anymore.

"So what's the plan now?" Danny asked the image of a shower was very appealing right now.

" We pull back, today we got a victory and I need a really long shower and I have something else I need to do. " Aoife said cryptically. I'm going to do it, I'm going to just kiss her, well ask her first but still kiss her, kiss Elle.

"So which way out Columbus?" Carmilla said sarcastically.

 

The sight of the evening darkened blue sky was a welcome sight as they climbed up from the pit, their mission all in all had been a success they were one giant fish down, and goodness knows how many left to go, maybe they should google just how many fish eggs one could lay in any one time to get a good idea at how big an enemy they were looking at. 

The blissful sound of birds sang melodious around their heads like a heavenly choir of angels serenading them as they made their exit, and entered again the realm of mortals, the sweet Seraph of wildflowers floating through the gentle wind, an organic perfume soothing the mind and heart. 

Lifting themselves over the top the group that waited rushed to them, then moved backward, the stench of the goo was unbearable even in the free open surrounding of the fresh air. "What the hell happened?" Laura asked, holding her nose. 

"The gruesome twosome decided to stab an Anglerfish, it exploded, here we are," Carmilla said unimpressed, the stuff had definitely stuck to every available crevice she had, and even some she didn't know she had, she was certain of that. 

"What little Ms. Short ass is meaning to say, Laila is that Danny and I saved her butt and she's been winging about it ever since." Aoife said smugly, accidentally forgetting to not inhale in and took a great big whiff of dead Anglerfish guts, which turned her stomach. 

"My name is Laura." She growled, planting her hands on her hips stubbornly, protesting. 

 

"Yeah sure I know, you keep saying, Lacy."

"This is why I should I have come along, Gertrude and I could have helped," Mel said caressing her own weapon like it were a small kitten she found adorable. 

Aoife frowned, "You have an unhealthy relationship with that thing, plus I would have picked a much better name for a rigid battle ax like that, maybe something like Laura, yes that would work."

"It's not a battle ax." Mell defended, shielded it from her as though her words would hurt its feelings. 

"Ah-Hah I knew you knew my name!" Laura shot out, pointing at her girlfriend's sister with smug glee. 

"I'm sorry Latricia what did you say?" Aoife shrugged innocently, her eyes looking around them, not spotting the person she was looking for, she was glad that she had listened to her but also inevitably disappointed, she wanted to see her smile right at this moment in time. 

"Come on let's get you back, and because I want to hug Carm she gets the bathroom first," Laura said seriously. 

"Screw that!" Danny jumped in. 

"Yeah screw that," Aoife agreed. "That's favoritism, as I own the house I should get first go in the bathroom." And cause I want to impress a certain someone and I'm pretty sure going in looking like an extra from the Ghostbusters movie is not a good way to do that. "So where is Elle...I mean Ms. Sheridan? I notice she isn't here." She shrugged trying not to sound as though she cared at all. 

Laura furrowed her brows thoughtfully, "She went out with Kirsch, some dinner date or something." 

"Dinner date," Aoife said with a forced smile. "How absolutely lovely for them, I hope that they have a good time, yes a wonderful time together!" Her fists clenched tightly, now she wished she had taken that Anglerfish out by physically fighting it, she needed to knock something out, maybe she would wait for Mr. Minus IQ to return. 

 

Elle sat up in her seat, her first dinner out in the modern world, with her restored life and she was long past the point of beginning to regret it, the place was too noisy, smelled too much of chargrilled meat and grease, and the conversation was a little lacking. 

 

She wanted to make sure that Aoife was okay, make sure that she had survived her Anglerfish encounter, maybe get to hug her a little. 

She looked across at Kirsch stuffing a burger into his mouth unceremoniously, she cringed slightly, imagining for a moment what this would have been like if she had gone with Aoife, but she would never ask her in the first place. 

She sighed, unconvincing dark green eyes flashing utter disappointment and frustration, her mind trailing back to waking that morning, the remembrance of the feel of her strong comforting arms wrapped around her, the feel of her body pressed up against hers, made her blush. 

"Is it too warm in here?" Kirsch asked through a mouthful of a meat burger. 

"I think I may be a vegan," Elle said softly, pushing her plate away from her. 

"You are?"

"Yeah, no meat for me," Elle replied firmly, crossing her arms over her chest, how long did these dinner things last anyway? Could they leave soon, she wanted to go back to her home, make sure that Aoife was okay, continue practicing, but mainly to see Aoife. 

Something about her drew her closer, and without the distracting glow of Carmilla to blind her, she saw more clearly now. 

"Why is everyone vegan now?" Kirsch sighed. "Who could not want this delicious meaty meat, so red and epic."

Elle cringed with disgust. "Err..yeah I'm definitely vegan now." 

 

Aoife found herself in the library again, a book open in front of her, legs braced out in front of her up on the desk and she leaned backward, after the day she had she definitely deserved a moment's peace. 

The words being fed through her eyes to her very soul, no one could write about dark gothic love anymore, the ability had been lost, all the new generation had was Twilight and that was the worst bit of literature since a three-year-old wrote a story about going to the store with their Mom. 

In fact, that may have been vastly more interesting, Aoife mused with a smirk. 

Outside the moon had won it's nightly battle with the sun and stood protectively over the earth with a magical ethereal glow surfacing around it, it's protectors the stars stood guard to its monarchs bright everlasting glory. 

With the electric generators installed and working the whole house was fitted, but as the house had no such modern gadgets as light switches they still relied on candles as a light source. 

> "Take this kiss upon the brow!  
> And, in parting from you now,  
> Thus much let me avow —  
> You are not wrong, who deem  
> That my days have been a dream;  
> Yet if hope has flown away  
> In a night, or in a day,  
> In a vision, or in none,  
> Is it therefore the less gone?  
> All that we see or seem  
> Is but a dream within a dream."

 

"I didn't know you like Poe." A familiar voice called out from the doorway. 

Ignoring the rejoicing in the pit of her stomach and the evergrowing feeling of relief at having her near, Aoife shrugged. "You never thought to ask."

Elle smiled, seeing her after sending all day worrying about her, she felt a little emboldened, approaching closer she sat on top of the desk, trying to emulate how Aoife would have acted if she were the one sat in the chair with a grumpy face. "And you are feeling forlorn because I never thought to ask you." 

Aoife pouted, "No, I never cared about it."

 

"Yet you said it." 

"You are annoying me, how was your date with Butthead, I'm sure he will introduce you to Bevis soon." Aoife scoffed childishly. 

Elle laughed. "Let's just say I discovered I am definitely a vegan."

Aoife shot to her feet, the book clenched tightly in her hands. "What the hell does that mean?" The thought of someone touching her, of someone holding her, was far too much. 

Elle frowned, "It means I don't want to eat meat, that is right isn't it?"

Aoife frowned mumbling under her breath, "Depends what kind of meat it is." 

"What."

"Nothing."

An awkward silence broke out between them, neither really knowing what to say to the other, Aoife ran her hand through her hair wishing she could say all the very many words that were swirling around in her head, and Elle wishing for something she still didn't quite know how to name. 

Elle suddenly felt empowered, she'd kissed Carmilla she could do it again, only this time, it would be Aoife, Carmilla had nothing on Aoife, she leaned forward if she wanted to taste what those plump luscious sweet lips were like she would have to do it on her own, and suddenly their lips were touching, she was kissing Aoife Drugain. 

Her decision sealed in the soft caress of lips, the thrill of arousal along her spine. Aoife touched her cheek, and Elle wrapped her fingers around Aoife's wrist, encircling it. 

Aoife's mind raged out with far too many emotions, too confused she went with the most obvious. _She's kissing me! Elle is kissing me!_

 

Elle pulled back when Aoife tried to deepen the kiss, conscious that they could be interrupted at any moment by anyone who walked into the library, her cheeks flushed she tried to avoid the vampire's gaze. 

Aoife smirked, still words were stolen from her, but she felt the happiest she had felt in a very long time.


	12. Sweet Talks And Cupid Laura

"Your sister has the hots for Elle," Laura said suddenly closing the door to their bedroom behind her.

Laid out fully on the bed, her head rested against the headboard Carmilla frowned, of all the things she had expected Laura to say that had not been on the list. "What."

 

Laura rolled her eyes, it was so obvious. "Your sister has the hots for Elle."

" Mattie, I don't think so Laura and how did you find this out? " Carmilla shrugged amused and confused.

"Not that sister and you know it, Aoife she is very attracted to Elle, I can't be the only person who has noticed, they flirt all the time, and Elle is very interested in return."

Carmilla sat up, her brows furrowed, " I thought that was a thinly veiled conceit. "

Laura laughed. "No, it's attraction, even when they row they flirt, I've heard them and did you see her reaction when I told her Elle was on a date with Kirsch."

The dark haired vampire thought back to after they'd crawled out of the pit, she'd been so focused on feeling gross, being covered in Anglerfish goo but there had been a tension in her eyes.

At the time she hadn't given it any more thought, she always looked like that around her now, the Aoife who used to smile at her had left the building and she was never coming back.

The thought was far too sobering, far too heartbreaking.

"No way, I've known Aoife for over three hundred years I know the type of woman she goes for, and Elle does not fit that criteria," Carmilla said, why did everyone forget that she knew Aoife better than anyone, or she used to.

Laura threw herself onto the bed, laying her head in her lover's lap, looking up at her, as Carmilla run her hands through her hair. "I know it hurts you Carm but its been eight decades, maybe she's changed."

 

" She certainly is colder than she was. " Carmilla said with a sad sigh.

Laura encircled her wrist with her hand, hoping it would help ease her emotional struggle. "Talk to me about it." She said softly.

" Mattie was my greatest friend, my sister I loved her but Aoife, she taught me everything, she saved me more times than I could count and I hated seeing the haunted loneliness in her eyes," A sob caught in her throat. "It's still there, it's bigger than before, sometimes every few decades she would just disappear, she never told me where but one time I followed her."

" Where did she go? " Laura whispered.

"Ireland, she was so angry when she found me, but she was walking through these old ruins of a castle like some gothic ghost wondering around aimlessly yet with a purpose that only she knew what it was, I watched her crouch down beside this stone in the center of what would have been a room, later she told me it was for an open fire." Suddenly what had happened on lonely bitterly cold October in 1745 didn't seem so far away, it was as though it was yesterday. "I watched her for a long time before she found me, I watched her sit by that stone and cry, I'd never seen her cry, since the night Mother sent her to claim me after being murdered I'd never seen her cry, but I saw that loneliness pour out then, I saw why unlike Mattie or I she never gloried in death and violence, I never understood why she loved us as she did, and as she cried I heard her whisper, Momma, I'd long forgotten about my earthly mother yet Aoife still returned to her home and cried for hers."

" Oh, Carm. " Laura sat up when she saw a stray tear fall from her eyes, wrapping her arms around her tightly. "It's okay."

Carmilla tried to stem the emotion, but that day was so raw right at that moment. "She hates me, Laura, it's not going to be okay, even that day when she found me and I thought she was going to rip my head off, even then she didn't hate me."

" So she didn't kill anyone? Like she wasn't a crazy murderous vampire? "

Carmilla laughed. "Oh no she was, only Aoife chose her victims well, for example in London in the 1770s and 1780s there was a guy going around London killing prostitutes his victims were in double digits, Aoife set herself a goal, the authorities didn't care about such women, but Aoife did, she set off, for London and she found him, the next day they found his mangled corpse in a ditch."

" Really? "

"Oh yes, I could tell you stories about Aoife that would blow your mind, there was a reason she was my hero," Carmilla said fondly, thinking of them now made her far too sad.

"Have you wondered what she was doing while we were stuck in that library trying to save the world, Danny said that was when she met her," Laura asked softly, it had been playing on her mind since they'd first encountered her here. "Was she helping your mother?"

Carmilla shook her head. "No, I don't think so, Aoife was never one to toe the line, she said it was her rebellious Irish blood, she'd never have gone along with that if she'd have known, she told me that that was why I was mothers favorite, I had no problem being her property, but she, Aoife was too free-spirited to feel the same way, it's why she died in the first place."

"Now she's in love with one of your past victims, your first love."

"Wow, wait in love you said she had the hots for her, now you are saying she's in love with her, where are you getting all of this from?" Carmilla shrieked freaking out, this couldn't be true, it really couldn't, this was Aoife, she'd hardly known Elle, she hardly knew her now.

"Did you see how happy she was to share a bed with her? She doesn't seem like she would be rejoicing so much if that was anyone else." Laura reasoned.

Both sets of eyes turned towards the wall, then to each other. "No way, you are imagining things."

 

Through the wall, hidden behind the thin concrete and wood that helped support the structure, laid on another bed, Elle laughed, throwing her head backward. "You were covered in it?"

The two had retired for the evening some moments ago after extending their time in the library, exchanging a few more sweet kisses, a hand, held or two, now together they lay under the covers of the vast bed, facing each other, talking. 

The soft light of the moon shining through the open drapes casting the darkened room in a silvery enchanting mystical light that lit up the side of Elle's face. 

 

" Hey, it wasn't funny. " Aoife playfully hitting her with a pillow. 

"Owe, you can't hit me just because I laughed, it was a very funny story," Elle said pulling the pillow easily from Aoife's grasp. 

Aoife laughed, it had been one hour, fourteen minutes and sixteen seconds since Elle had kissed her, she'd been tracking the time, she always wanted to brand the moment in her mind, when one hundred and forty plus years of lingering hope had finally been fulfilled. "You wouldn't have been laughing if you were there, but after he blows, you know he was a guy right? just exploding without warning or not even lasting very long, I turn around and Mircalla's face, it was the funniest thing I've ever seen." She tumbled backward into a fit of laughter again, the memory of Carmilla's face still fresh in her mind, she wished she had taken her cell phone to take a picture of the moment, that was when she realized that wouldn't have worked, vampires didn't photograph. 

"Let's not worry about her." Elle cut off suddenly and briskly, for a moment she had existed in a lovely fluffy world, where Aoife smiled sweetly, and her eyes danced magically, she didn't want that world to be invaded by anyone else. 

Aoife frowned. Does she still love her? Insecurity continued to build, having her sister around wasn't helping anything. 

Laying back onto her pillow, Elle stared up at the top of the bed sighing. "I still don't understand her, I warned her, why did she ignore my warnings?" She turned to face Aoife looking for an answer. 

Aoife lifted a single fingertip to trace the line of Elle's cheek. "I don't know, love is a strange thing, it's in the dictionary with a definition but I don't think the real meaning can ever be defined, it's like a whisper in the wind, not everyone is guaranteed to hear and understand it as someone else does it's trust beyond everything, and sometimes that bites you in the ass and other times you are rewarded for it." Her green eyes traveled over the precious plains of the other woman's face, taking in the softness of her, then leaning forward she kissed her, lips pressed together lightly before adding. "No matter how loud you shout, sometimes you can't pierce through that."

Then her mouth traveled over Elle's jaw and down her neck placing soft open mouthed kisses there breathing in her heady scent like a starving woman, Elle found herself lost closing her eyes she basked in the emotions that Aoife's attentions were creating within her.

A long-feared night terror popped into her mind, one involving a vampire and her neck, suddenly anxiety struck her as she used her hands to push her away, concern in her eyes as she felt the flesh of her neck for a wound. 

Aoife frowned confused. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Elle said flustered, she felt a little silly, but some things were hard to get away from especially when they had been haunting her for over a century. 

Aoife nodded somehow understanding adding softly. "Elle, I will never hurt you, I swear it." 

 

Elle sighed a little with relief, she wasn't sure she was ready for anything heavy just yet, maybe not for a long while her mind was still far too confused and tangled up, the only thing that seemed to take root and mean anything was Aoife. "I'm not too sure I'm ready yet."

Aoife smiled, moving closer again, pulling her into her arms happily. "You know sometimes a hug is better than anything in the whole world." 

"Were you always this sweet? I'm beginning to wonder why I hated you." Elle chuckled merrily. 

"That was days ago, I'm always this sweet but only for you." 

"Why do I like that idea." Elle mused out loud, enjoying being locked in Aoife's safe arms. 

"Because you want to keep me all to yourself, and I can get on board with that." The idea of belonging to someone had made a chill run through her in the past, but somehow belonging to Elle made her feel warm and happy. "Hey, tomorrow night lets sneak out of here and go on a date, I will show you twenty-first-century dating." 

"Okay." Elle beamed suddenly excited and looking forward to something for the first time in a very long time. 

 

At breakfast everyone piled around the table, eating and drinking the vast feast that seemed to be on display all courtesy of the magical culinary delights of a certain Perry, who sat proudly watching her creations be devoured, her eyes moving to LaFontaine who haphazardly picked up a piece of bagel and placed it into their mouth, their eyes and focus all on the new creation she was working on. 

"Must you work on that now?" She sighed impatiently. 

Annoyed eyes lifted up to meet her. "I bet no one ever said that to Tesla." 

"He never lived with anybody, he was lonely." 

"Yeah, now we know why." 

"Okay, I see we're all here, so our breakfast meeting can begin," Laura said haughtily standing up her head turning left and then right addressing everyone around the table. 

Aoife rolled her eyes. "Brilliant who put Loony Lois in charge?" 

Laura frowned. "I'm in charge Ms. too cool for school because I'm the one who started this all. and I'm the only one who can talk to everyone without scowling and being mean." 

 Turning to face Elle, Aoife rolled her eyes making the other woman laugh louder than she had intended to do, the incident had not gone unnoticed and something so little was being tracked, Laura turned to Carmilla mouthing the words. "See, I told you so." 

 

"Also she's always in charge." Mel shrugged. 

Carmilla pursed her lips turning her attention stubbornly to the scene, Aoife sat normally, next to Danny as usually, Are they joined at the hip now?  Her eyes, however, were fixed on the woman sat across from her, a smile playing across her lips the likes of which she had never ever seen worn by Aoife. 

"That is true, I think she took all the credit too." LaFontaine shrugged, fiddling with a strange device in front of them, inventing didn't stop for breakfast. 

Laura began her address again, though everyone was only barely listening. "Thanks to our Vampire sisterhood, we are one Anglerfish down, but what we still don't know is how many there are left, so we're still in the same situation we were only now we have no parental interference."

"Isn't infanticide fun." Aoife scoffed sarcastically. 

Laura ignored her and continued. "So we know they explode if they get stabbed in the head, this has to be our go to way to, you know, end them." 

"Gertrude and I will be happy to help." Mel jumped in. 

Aoife chuckled. "I introduced Papa Fish to Sorcha."

"Who?" Mel shrugged. 

"Yes, who is Sorcha," Elle asked abrasively stringing out the end of the name as though it hurt and stung her to say it, her arms crossed a challenge set hard in her eyes. 

"My sword, I was just playing along, long ago, my uncle, Ciaran had a mistress, I say, mistress, he wasn't married, anyway and she was called Sorcha, she was terrifying, long mane of golden red hair and a mass scattering of freckles all over her face, she was like a living flame." She wasn't going to go further into the knowledge that she knew those freckles had scattered elsewhere on her body, or how in fact she knew of it, but that had been one night stuck in the barn because of a thunderstorm that she would never forget, made her eighteenth year of life the very best one she'd ever enjoyed. Aoife leaned on her elbow shrugging at her girlfriend, was Elle her girlfriend now? how long was it until it was deemed appropriate to give the person you were exchanging kisses with a title? "What's up with you?" She whispered, there was no way she could be jealous, could she? 

"Nothing." 

She is, she's jealous, this is excellent. Aoife silently rejoiced. 

Carmilla continued to watch the two, everything else blurring away into the background as her focus continued on them, little smiles, little looks passed between them, little whispered words no one else seemed to hear, Carmilla saw it all and suddenly Laura wasn't sounding so crazy. 

She jumped up to her feet pushing the chair behind her angrily. "You!" She pointed to her sister. "Follow me, we need to talk." 

Aoife lifted an amused eyebrow. "Excuse me, have you forgotten little kitty cat you aren't the one who tells me what to do." 

"Now."


	13. Confessions

Aoife Drugain lounged arrogantly back in her chair, deciding to humor the shrill vampire she'd gracefully made her way to the library, it still lingered and sang with the intoxicating and enchanted memory of the night before.

Carmilla paced the ground in front of her, wearing down the already torn and tattered carpet with her repeated movements, Aoife watched her unamused, rolling her eyes at her futile attempts at playing the drama queen. 

"Mircalla can we please cut the dramatics, I'm a busy..."

" Yeah, yeah you are a busy woman! " Carmilla cut her off angrily. "I know you've said already, but I want to know what you are playing at?"

" Excuse me. " Aoife asked faining innocence.

"Oh you know what I mean, and don't pretend like you don't know what I'm talking about, what are you doing with Elle?" Carmilla spat at her sister angrily.

Aoife dramatically wiped at her face with her hand, her face contorted into disgust. "I believe the expression is, say it don't spray it Mircalla."

 

"Everything is a joke, isn't it? Everything a dark rebuttal of hate and displeasure."

" It is what it is. " Aoife shrugged uninterested. 

"Well, what is this?" Carmilla demanded. "I just sat in that room and watched you two bat eyes at each other, I watched you smile and laugh and you didn't have that evil twinkle in your eyes, what the hell is going on?" Angry that Aoife still sat like an emotionless statue "Even when mother requested it you never looked so captivated at the moment!"

A dark cloud fell over Aoife's eyes, briskly and with menace, she rose ominously to her feet. "Not all of us were so willing to please dearest Mother Mircalla, not all of us wanted to play the pied piper, you willingly threw yourself onboard and happily played the siren, I did not."

" Is that it, is that why you hate me because Mother favored me over you? " Carmilla asked confused, but if that were true then wouldn't she have always hated her?

Aoife let out a mocking burst of laughter that echoed around the room and taunted her sister. "She favored you over all of us, why should I care then or now?" Her cold harsh eyes trained on the shorter woman. 

Carmilla shrank back slightly, taken aback by the sheer rawness in her gaze, things had changed, they'd changed far too much and she was determined to find out what, straightening her shoulders straight she continued, " Really because it looks to me like you can't stand the sight of me, can't even stand to be in the same room as me. "

Aoife shook her head in frustration, it was pointless to stand around and waste her time talking about ancient history with her, swiftly she made her way to the door. " I don't know what you are talking about Mircalla. "

Carmilla all but growled out. "You see, you are doing it now!"

The green-eyed woman stood by the door her exit sabotaged, "I can do whatever I wish."

" You pulled me up from that coffin and my blood comforter, then you just left me, you abandoned me when I needed you the most! " She screamed. "And then nothing, not even a Christmas card!"

Aoife slammed the door closed behind her, launching herself in front of the other woman, her finger pointing straight at her. "How fucking dare you! You have no idea at all what I did to get to you, no idea at all you ungrateful little alley cat, no idea!"

Carmilla sighed steadying herself. "I will always be grateful Aoife, I'm grateful for everything you ever did for me, but it doesn't take away the fact that after all of that, after our history, you left me, you left your sister all alone."

Aoife furrowed her eyebrows, narrowing her eyes hatefully, yet calmly she spoke quietly almost on a whisper. "My brothers died so I would live, then it made no difference because I died anyway, my father died to save our people, but they betrayed us anyway, I learned a long time ago Mircalla, a family is overrated."

 

Carmilla felt the full force of her words pierce through her very core, it hurt to hear them, it hurt even more to see the cold look directed straight at her. "Are you sure? because it seems that is only extended to me, you seem pretty cozy with Danny, your new little sister."

" Yes. " Aoife replied coldly, swallowing harshly, unable to say anything more.

Carmilla smiled sadly, her eyes growing suspiciously wet, she tried to push it away, she didn't want Aoife to see how affected she was by her words. "I woke up scared and afraid, I was nineteen just an innocent debutante sheltered from the evil of the world, then I saw your smile and I didn't feel so afraid anymore, I spent my whole Vampire life looking up to you, admiring you, trying to emulate you, my sister, the first time I'd ever had one, but you didn't care enough, I guess you were looking for a replacement, you have that now don't you? Enjoy your little family dinner dates crossing continents to see her, walking past my front door and not even giving it a second glance." Anger was bubbling away inside her, on the side table sat an old vase, in a tantrum she picked it up and with a twisted face threw it into the fireplace pieces if white porcelain scattering around them.

Aoife lifted an eyebrow. "Don't vandalize my house."

"After Mother became her Godly self again, I watched Laura die, right before my eyes and in my arms I watched her, I wanted to crawl away and die too." Carmilla cried out, the tears now falling freely. " For a long time afterward I couldn't get it out of my mind, I would just watch her chest rise and fall as she slept, making sure she was still there, I tried to contact you, your Secretary said you weren't taking calls, for months I tried, I needed you then too! "

"I wasn't taking calls, I was helping Danny, I'd managed to get her away from Mother," Aoife replied honestly.

Carmilla snorted. "Again with your precious Danny, you know what I don't understand? why, why did you suddenly stop caring for me, when did you suddenly decide to hate me? If you were going to abandon me then why did you search for me in the first place?"

The shattered shards of pottery was a symbol of how angry Aoife felt, bottling everything up for nearly a century had not been a very good idea, suddenly Aoife exploded. "Because I felt guilty I never thought for one moment she would do that to you, I thought she would forgive you as she always had done." _I knew I couldn't save Elle, but I could save you._

"What?"

Carmilla frowned confused, her dark gaze staring at her sister. " Who, Mother, why would you think... " Suddenly she saw everything in Aoife's guilt-ridden cold green eyes, everything made sense now. "You were the one who told her about our plan, you were the one who ruined everything." She accused. " Why, why would you do that? You are the reason I was held a prisoner in that coffin, why Elle... "

Aoife moved forward into her sister's face. "Oh, no way, you are not pinning that on me, Mircalla, you chose her not me, you are the one who doomed her to mother's fucking insanity, you were so naive." How had she never ever seen it? How had she never known, she knew how things were yet she chose to never see it. " Did you really think mother would have let you live happily in peace? " She let out a cruel laugh, lifting her sisters chin up with her fingertip. "Oh, honey she'd have tracked you down and made you watch while she tore your lady love apart, then it would be your turn, I saw her cruelty to the ones she called daughters, I lost sisters before you'd even opened your eyes to the world for the first time, she had her tricks, her cruel tricks."

Carmilla pushed away her hand as though the touch burned her. "You thought that we couldn't leave, that mother would have forgiven me for wanting to elope with her sacrifice? Did you ever even think about Elle in all of this?"

" Are you being serious right now? didn't you hear me? no matter what had happened her fate was sealed the moment you chose her, I made the decision to save your selfish ass and allow her a quick death, it was all I could have done, she died because of you! "Aoife shouted tears clouding her eyes, as her throat closed with emotion, making her choke out the words. "Not me you!" 

Outside the door unseen by the fighting inhabitants of the room, soft footsteps, in her haste to find Aoife it had been a long time since she and Carmilla had left the breakfast table, Elle stood by the door, her hand lifted about to knock when she heard her name.

What the..

Carmilla turned thoughtful her head lowered down, her eyes scrunched up, silent as her eyes danced, her brain working over everything silently. "Wait a minute."

" What now. "

"Laura was right, I didn't believe it, but she was right wasn't she?" She asked astounded.

Aoife shrugged. "What, what did she say now? What has your perfect little pet Lucy been going on about now?"

" You're in love with her, you are in love with Elle... "

Aoife sucked in her cheeks trying to rebuild her walls, no one had ever guessed this, no one had ever even come close, she didn't want the first person to be Carmilla. "I don't know what you are talking about?" She shrugged.

 

Carmilla continued, she saw the truth now. "It's not new, is it? You've always been in love with her, I see it now that was when you began to grow cold towards me, you'd lose your temper with me, it was all because she was with me, wasn't it? and that is why you disowned me, why you abandoned me, why you hate me, you blamed me for the loss of the woman you loved, Aoife I. .."

Aoife listened with tears falling from her eyes, she idiocy of it all was not lost on her, she'd fallen in love with someone who was afraid of her, someone who thought the sunshine shone from Carmilla. "I don't need or want your pitty Mircalla, save it for someone else." She hated seeing the look in the other woman's eyes, it made her feel sick to her stomach, why must she spend her whole life playing the strong one, the untouchable one, when this could make her feel so very human again. 

Elle kept in the gasp that threatened to pour out, still, she kept listening as a surreal truth poured from the room, the kind of which she had never known before.

 

"You always got your way didn't you, everyone loves Carmilla, sweet little misunderstood Carmilla, I spent three centuries cleaning up your messes and still it was always you who got to walk away with her head held high, all her wishes granted," Aoife said cruelly. "You never deserved her in the first place, hell you even got your life back, she fucking screwed me over too, she never gave me back my life, while you were busy being selfish again, I was helping someone and you were the one to get their life back, I'm still stuck with a lump of floating brick for a heart in my chest."

" It didn't last long, your precious girlfriend took my life, so I'm just like you again, no need to get jealous," Camilla replied more harshly and hard than she had intended. "Why did you never tell me how you felt about her?"

Aoife laughed coldly. "It wouldn't have mattered, all she saw was you, and you loved her too, I would have been a selfish ass to destroy that."

" I'm sorry. "

"Save it for someone who cares, when we're done here we go back to how we were, I stayed only for her, I wasn't going to let anyone harm her again and I still won't ."

Hearing the footsteps getting closer Elle panicked fearing she would be caught, she didn't know how Aoife would react to knowing she'd overheard everything, especially when she had no idea how to take the knowledge that Aoife had always loved her, she was the reason she hated Carmilla.

Throwing herself through the door opposite, she hid in the closet and waited until the coast was clear before she could step out safely. 

"Wait," Carmilla called after Aoife, reluctantly she turned around to face her. 

"What."

"Does she know?"

Aoife felt for a moment the world of emotions flood through her gates, gates she would have rather kept closed, she had for over a century. "No, and why would she?" 

"Maybe you should tell her."

 

"And you think I should be taking advice from you? I don't think so, as I've said we are done Mircalla, go and live your perfect little life, leave me to my own adequate one, the one thing I have learned is money tends to break the heart far less, and he's always there when you need him, well for me it is but I'm rich, have a good day Mircalla, and don't you go opening your big mouth, I will know who has told her if she finds out, and I won't be pleased." She warned before swiftly exiting, 

Carmilla watched her leave through watery eyes, her eyes unable to move from her retreating figure as she grew smaller and smaller until she turned the corner and disappeared from view entirely. 

"I didn't see that coming." She whispered to herself, turning to look at the room she had just exited, her fingers trembling and her temper ablaze, tears rolling down her cheeks unable to keep them back any longer with a violent lunge she threw herself back into the room and starting with the chair that sat nearest the door lifted it into the air with ease, and threw it through the window, the glass vase of bright vibrant flowers that Laura had placed in the window to 'brighten up the place' burst into a sudden flame of fire, the silken petals shriveled and curled into a dust ash falling to the windowsill below, looking up at the remainder of their beautiful flowery friends, a gloomy reminder of their once great beauty and an ominous sign of what was to come to those yet untouched by the yellow and orange violent flames. 

Outside the door, Elle slipped from her hiding place, quirking an eyebrow at the scene, trying to quench her anger, Aoife was not going to be happy when she saw what she had done, but at that moment she reminded herself of this evening, she and Aoife had a date, she had a date with a gorgeous woman who was utterly in love with her, so in love with her, in fact, it had lasted over a  century and lingered even though she had died. 

Feeling smug she danced down the hall happily, humming an enthusiastic tune as she did. 

 

In another room far away from the battling sisters and the airing of old ancient history, Laura sat behind her makeshift desk, addressing her camera, things were different this time, they had experience, a vast amount of experience. 

 

"Okay, so we're having some personal issues that seem to be taking over the whole quest to save the world from demon fish, buuut.... I think we can keep a handle on it, we are after all mature adults, who can keep control of their emotions," Laura spoke into the camera, her face looking for all the world as though she had no faith at all in the words she was speaking. "Anyway, the good news is we are one Anglerfish down, so yay go us, although there was a rather messy cleanup, one that took a few hours." 

"Laura, Laura, Laura!" 

Laura rolled her eyes, couldn't she do anything in peace having Kirsch running towards her calling her name at full force really wasn't helping her, and it really wasn't helping them, she pinched the bridge of her nose. "What is it Kirsch?"

He came to an abrupt halt next to her chair, running so fast he almost flew over Laura's head. 

"You gotta come now, the book room it's trashed an on fire!" 

Laura's eyes widened. "The what room?"

"The room full of books!" He clarified, his face read, trying desperately to catch his breath. 

"The library>" She corrected. 

"Yeah, it's on fire!" 

"What the hell!"  Jumping into action running as fast as her little legs would carry her Laura ran towards the library, she could feel the heat as she edged closer, Carmilla stood outside, looking into the room a haunted look in her eyes as she watched the room be consumed with fire. 

Pulling her into her arms she dragged her away from the flames. "Carm, what's wrong what happened?" Moving her hair from her eyes so she could see her more clearly, tears ran down her cheeks that broke her heart "Tell me what's wrong."

"It's all gone."

"What has?"

"She's gone, she hates me." 

"No, no Carm that's not true." Laura consoled holding her tighter. "Love and hate are so close, they mix in and blur together sometimes, if she hated you she wouldn't have saved you from the coffin, she wouldn't still be here now."

"She's here for Elle, not me." Carm sobbed. 

"No, she went down that pit with you, she trusted you enough to do that, you said she wouldn't let you attack the thing, why do you think she did that?" Laura asked softly. 

"To humiliate me even more."

"No, to protect you, she doesn't hate you, she wants to, but she can't, I think she must hate herself more than anything." 

"She was the one Laura, she was the one who told my mother about Elle and me, she was the reason I was in the coffin." 

Laura sighed, why did life always seem to get more complicated everytime you thought you had it all sorted, why did it have to become more polluted and twisted?


	14. The First Date

"Just take deep breaths," Aoife told the woman who was walking aimlessly around the burned chard of what remained of the library, she'd spent the last hour and a half doing it ever since the amused fire brigade had left, it seemed they'd found the story of the rooms spontaneous combustion to be rather funny.

They had changed their minds when they'd realized that Aoife was advancing on them and with born teeth ready to sink into their rubbery flesh.

They'd left pretty soon afterward.

"Take deep breaths, look at what that creature has done to my library!" Elle lifted her arms around her gesturing as though Aoife hadn't been stood with her the whole time.

 

" I know. " Aoife said sympathetically, she'd been trying to pull herself together when she'd seen the smoke, saw the raw angry flames licking at the glass window.

"These books it took my mother and her family centuries to accumulate, in an hour she's destroyed them all," Elle stressed, they were all she had left of her mother, all that had comforted her when she had passed away, she'd escape to the forgotten aisles of her beloved library and pulled out one of her mother's favorite books.

Now she gathered together the silken grey ashes in her hands of what had been Wuthering Heights, the pages touched by her mother's fair hand were gone, symbolic of the relationship between Cathy and Heathcliff.

Tears irritated her eyes, as she wiped them away with her hand her mind still playing the memories through.

Bending down ignoring the ash that clung to her expensive clothes she gently pulled Elle's hands into her own, cupping them comfortably in hers. "It will be okay."

Elle's tear stained eyes rose to meet Aoife's and the green-eyed woman felt her heart break in two. "It won't be, they were hers, Aoife, my mother's now she is truly gone."

" No, that isn't true. " Aoife whispered softly. "I lost my mother when I was seventeen years old, I nursed her as she lay dying, I watched as more and more of the vibrant, intelligent, independent women I loved disappeared until finally....she closed her eyes to this world for the last time, but she's only ever gone if I let her go, if I leave her from my mind and although my heart ceased beating in the sixteenth century she's still inside there, she'll never leave because I will never let her go, she's my mother, my true mother, the one who loved me beyond all things, the one who taught me good, yours is in your heart too, no one can ever take her away from you, and when you want to see her, just summon her from your heart and she'll be there with you."

Elle smiled a little. " You know what to say, don't you. "

 

Aoife knew at that moment looking into her sweet eyes if she could blush her whole face would be blood red, she cleared her throat with a small unconvincing cough. "No, just giving you advice, material things fade and crumble but memories and love, no one can take them, they are yours and no one else."

Elle sighed, keeping her hands where they were, where she felt safe at that moment. "I'm sorry."

Aoife rolled her eyes playfully. "Never apologize for this, but I will make this all better for you, I will fix everything." She hadn't thought about the consequences of her words, or even what they meant at this moment. "Come on, let's get out of here and we can go and have some fun, get away from the crazies."

" Okay. " Elle smiled as Aoife helped her up, still holding her hand silence stretched between them as Aoife gazed lovingly into Elle's greeny brown eyes, almost unwilling to let her go, it was irrational she knew but she didn't.

Moments passed without either moving, without either speaking too content to stand and just bask in the closeness of the other, Elle had spent over a hundred and forty years in a lonely hell now suddenly there was Aoife, and as she remembered the conversation she'd overheard earlier, before Carmilla had decided to turn her library into Dante's Inferno, she loved her, really and truly loved her, and so far she wasn't planning on eating her or throwing her to an angry fish monster.

That was always a good thing.

"So you better go and get ready," Aoife said finally breaking from her spell.

Elle blushed, moving her hair behind her ear, even though it wasn't in her eyes or had even fallen from behind her ears. "I better go then."

" Yeah. "

"Okay."

" You really have to go. " Aoife laughed, charmed by the slightly shorter woman, but then she was charmed by everything she had done.

"Of course, I'm really going now." Elle smiled shyly, this time slowly making her way to the door, turning around every so often to look at Aoife, smiling like an enchanting little fairy too sweet to be real.

" Go. " Aoife chuckled.

"I'm going."

When she'd finally managed to exit the room, Aoife's smile turned into a dramatic frown, her gaze hard her precious little sister would not be getting away with her tantrum this time.

 

"Okay, so what do we do? staple garlic to the door?" Laura asked pacing the floor, she was sure this was not going to add to the harmony of their mission.

Carmilla lounged on the chair, the anger had left her now she was left with the bone gnawing pain of the knowledge that her sister loathed her very existence and resented every breath she had taken. "Garlic? She always said that was for weak vampires."

" We get a stake then. " Laura said knowingly.

"No."

" You burned down a whole room, nearly the whole house, you think this will make her like you?" Laura asked with disbelief. 

"No."

Laura rolled her eyes, so Carmilla and Aoife were never going to be a Sam and Dean Winchester tribute act, was that really the end of the world? "Glad to see you are taking this so seriously, because at any moment she's going to burst through that door, and she will not be here to offer us cupcakes."

"It's not you, she wants to kill creampuff."

Almost as though she'd been summoned her ominous figure appeared in the doorway, her green eyes ablaze with anger as she stared in at them.

Laura's eyes widened. "Err...Carm has a problem, she's a pyromaniac it's not her fault, she's seeing a therapist for it."

Aoife remained untouched by the blatant stupid idiotic lie. "It's amusing to me that you are a journalist when you lie so badly, you must be one of the very rare honest ones, I'm sure you'll find your palms greased enough to change that, fortunately for humanity we won't believe what crap spills from your mouth."

Carmilla stood abruptly from her chair. "Talk to her like that again and I'll remove that stick up your butt and beat you with it!"

Aoife laughed calmly unmoved by the threat. "Oh poor little Mircalla, your threats may frighten a toddler but you forget who you are talking to, I've faced armies alone and won left a river of blood in my wake, what could you do that could scare me?"

 

"We've got a..... a....a" Laura fumbled around for a weapon, hoping she could find something to scare the scary vampire sister, after all, they'd caught Carm with just a Spatula and a stapler. "A feather duster!" She sighed, flashing it under Aoife's nose.

Aoife raised an eyebrow. "Oh, dear me, this is it Mircalla, this is your soul mate" Letting out a loud mocking laugh she could barely contain her mirth. "I almost feel sorry for you, I've known witches living in hovels with more sophistication, trolls under bridges with more charm, harpies with more likeability."

"That's harsh," Laura said her face screwed up.

" And yet accurate. " Aoife said seriously, turning her attention to Carmilla. "You, however, I feel deserve this torment, your own selfishness again ruined something for Elle, you never seem to be able to look beyond yourself, always you, isn't that right Mircalla? Never quite able to see the bigger picture."

" Says the woman who told a vengeful mother all about my plan. " Carmilla bit back moving forward, causing Laura to jump in between them as referee.

"Okay, so this isn't the reunion we'd hoped for, but if you carry on this way there will be no turning back." Laura pleaded, holding her girlfriend back as Aoife looked on smugly and unaffected. 

"Listen to your little pet Mircalla, Laila is right, put her leash back on Lana she needs it," Aoife said smugly before exiting the room, she needed to get ready, but she also had to plan an appointment with a builder, she had to restore the library.

 

Laura turned to her girlfriend. "She literally called me two different names in the space of two seconds. "

 

The dinner table that evening was suspiciously silent. 

The events of the day had struck a different cord with everyone and although they didn't know the whole story, everyone now knew Carmilla had burned down the library, she wasn't very willing to jump forward and give out reasons why she had done it, and why she regretted it with all of her heart. 

She'd given Aoife another reason to hate her and that was something she really couldn't take, the knowledge she hated her was enough to cope with she didn't need more. 

"So Vampirella the elder has a date with the dead girl." Mel shrugged trying to break the very awkward silence. 

Carmilla frowned. 

 

"I would say she's more of an Elvira," Perry said softly. "She's kinda hot, what why are you all looking at me like that?"

Everyone turned to look at the red headed woman, silence again stretching out around them at her uncharacteristic opinion. 

"Perr, look, dust," LaFontaine said pointing to an imaginary piece of dust on the table. 

"I think they look good together." Danny shrugged. 

LaFontaine rolled their eyes. "Yeah but we all knew right?"

Everyone looked to her puzzled. 

"What, we did right the sexual tension is crazy between them, sexual tension, you noticed it right, the tension, tension, tension? Yeah, so you get it." LaFontaine said knowingly. 

"Stop saying sexual tension," Perry told her with a softly stern voice. 

Carmilla rolled her eyes. "Oh please, this lot can't even tell that you and Susy Homemaker are doing the horizontal Hula." 

"Thank goodness someone said it." Kirsch sighed with relief. 

"We are not!" They both rejected, mounting similar fierce protests. 

"Then you should really start because you act like you are." 

 

After the near disaster, Aoife and Elle finally managed to escape the madhouse and found themselves walking down a sparsely crowded Styria street hand in hand, a gentle wind flowing through the air the streets lit by fairy-like glowing bulbs that seemed to float around their heads. 

 

The old buildings stood as a testament to time, they'd witnessed troops march through from the carnage of the first world war, saw men bid farewell to loved ones and march for Maria Theresa in the Austrian wars of succession, they'd remained old friends to the sun and the moon and the stars high up in the sky as centuries passed by their rose and set above them happily and in harmony. 

They'd watched generations grow at their feet and smiled at the progress, seen babies pushed by their mothers in their prams and then saw them kiss their first love in their archways, push their own children and with slow effect walk the cobbled ancient streets in their old age, whole life cycles went and yet these houses and shops still stood. 

Elle had felt a little overwhelmed she felt like those buildings, sleeping in time until somehow they'd awoken and blossomed, to steam her slight anxiety she held onto Aoife's hand tighter, Aoife turned to watch her. 

"Why don't we make a stop, I know the perfect place." Pulling her along Elle couldn't help but release and little excited amused chuckle, she'd never seen Aoife like this, free of her overbearing ominous energy she was carefree and happy, she smiled for no reason, Elle wondered if it would be so easy to fall in love with Aoife, she felt something for her, but could it turn into a real love? or was she just clinging to her right now because it was all she had? 

She gasped a little at the sight, a cafe stood on the corner of the street, outside small square tables sat each with two chairs stood either side of the tables, around them lived small trees that still managed to grow over the heads of the dining area and act as a living green roof, within the leaves and branches sat small yellow fairy lights that illuminated the area so beautifully it was like walking into a magical fantasy. 

"This is beautiful," Elle said softly enchanted by the scene as Aoife lead her to a table and pulled out a chair for her to sit in. "How did you know about this?"

"I found it by accident, I had a meeting here with a lawyer, it was dreadfully dull and rather beige I'm afraid so I needed a little life, I found myself walking a little and found this, it cheered me up." Aoife smiled taking her own seat across the table from Elle. 

"I can see why."

"You haven't even tasted the pastries here, they are divine," Aoife promised, pulling up the menu that sat on the center of the table, handing it to her date. 

 

Aoife watched growing even more enchanted by the moment as Elle bent her head to read the menu, a simple act yet when her eyes landed on something she liked the look of they lit up, the echo of the reflection of the fairy lights lit up her eyes, even more, making her like like an ethereal magical creature. 

"Goodness I haven't had this in so long." She said excitedly. "I need it now, I will have the Sacher-Torte, I remember my mother telling me the story of how it was created, such a by chance happening and yet that must be how fate works."

Aoife smiled. "It must be, I will have the same I think, how was it created?" She asked genuinely interested but also because she wanted to continue to hear her sweet voice when she got happy and excited her whole demeanor changed. Signaling to a waiter to take their order she listened intently as he swiftly made his way inside. 

"My mother told me that Prince Metternich asked his court kitchen to create a special dessert for a reception. Due to the illness of the chef, it fell to the 16-year-old apprentice Franz Sacher (1816-1907) to dream something up, and he did, I also loved it because I love apricots, and when mixed with chocolate, it's utterly divine." 

I know someone else who is utterly divine. Aoife mused silently, her eyes locked with Elle's, she blushed shyly. "You are doing it again." She said softly, averting her eyes as her cheeks flamed red. 

"Doing what?" 

"Looking at me as though you want to devour me."

 

"Oh, I'm sorry." 

Elle shrugged. "I know what it means now, by the way, I just think I'm not ready for such things, I...is it okay? "

Aoife blinked rapidly. "Is it okay?." She reached for her hands and held them in her own. "Elle, I don't want to make you do anything, if you aren't ready for anything that is okay, don't think you have to feel bad for that, I don't, well maybe a bit frustrated in the end." She chuckled playfully as Elle smiled. "But I would wait a thousand years for you to be ready."

Elle looked into the other woman's light green eyes, almost the same color as the leaves in the trees above them, she saw a raw truth, and she knew the truth now, knew why she would, and if she were honest with herself she had to admit that it felt good. 

"This modern world is very strange to me." She replied softly. 

"This modern world is strange to everyone, but it's not so much different to 1872, girls were loose then they just never told you and wanted to keep women locked away from empowerment, and when I say loose I do not mean it as an insult, I was one after all." Aoife winked. 

"You were?" 

"Well, when you'd have lived as long as I have there comes a point when temptation is just too much to bare any longer."

Elle twirled a small piece of hair around her finger. "Did you and Carmilla ever.....?"

Aoife's eyes grew wide with shock. "Goodness, no way, I knew some of our sisters who did fall in love or even just indulge a little, but Carmilla, "She smiled a little before she caught her action and removed it. "Mircalla was special, I found her when she was lost and bewildered, she always seemed to have this lost look in her eyes that catches you and pulls you in, anyway, it's our first date let's not talk about her and instead let's talk about how beautiful you look." 

"And am I a temptation for you ms. Drugain?" Elle asked. 

 

Aoife smirked mysteriously, her eyes drifting down to the hands she still held between her own. "You really have no idea at all how much of a temptation you are." _You have always been._

"I think I like being a temptation if it's you I'm tempting." 

"Oh, really remind me that I need to put a warning notice on you." Aoife joked. "Here comes our order, I'm glad this is your order."

Elle shrugged confused. "Why?"

"Because now I get to find out what you and chocolate taste like together." Aoife smoldered, lifting her hand to her lips and kissing it, opening her mouth slightly to let her tongue draw a line along her sensitive skin. 

Ele felt her face flame as she watched her had almost disconnected yet she felt every erotic movement of her tongue against her skin, growing a little embarrassed at the public display of affection, something that would have been greatly frowned upon in 1872 she pulled her hand away, leaving Aoife to chuckle at her reaction. 

"You said kisses were okay." Aoife shrugged. 

 

When they'd sufficiently devoured enough pastries and desserts to fill a classroom full of hungry children, they'd followed their  Sacher-Torte up with a few  Vanilla Kipferl cookies each, then they had shared a delicious chocolate hazelnut pudding that had wibbled and wobbled in the center of the table bring them to laugh like a little toddler. 

Finally, when the sugar high grew too much they'd settled on a final slice of Apricot Dumplings, warm mugs of cocoa with fresh whipped cream on top had been devoured multiple times and laced with whiskey to add an extra bit of spice. 

Leaving the cafe, Elle leaning into the other woman's warm presence their hands held, Aoife lead her onto her next surprise her final for the evening, and the reason why she hadn't brought her car instead of taking a cab. 

Elle had gasped when she had seen the open carriage pull up, pulled by two giant white cart horses each with a black leather shield over their eyes. 

Now as the night fell over the city Aoife and Elle sat in the carriage, Elle's head had fallen onto Aoife's awaiting shoulder content to watch the city lights fly by as they went by leisurely. 

"This is so lovely, it reminds me of life before everything went wrong." Elle sighed wistfully. 

Aoife felt a stab at her chest, guilt again niggling at her, did she have any right to be doing this? Did she have any more right than Carmilla had done to be with Elle? She sighed sadly, the answer she came up with was no, she didn't. 

Elle deserved the best of everything, she deserved someone better, someone, who wasn't partly responsible for her doom, someone who wasn't plastered in centuries of the blood of others. 

Carrying on this would make her as selfish as she had told Carmilla she had been, but just for a few moments longer she would cherish this one moment, this one moment of bliss where all of her dreams came true, it was okay sometimes for creatures of darkness to bask in an angels glow before scurrying back into the shadows. 

Just a few more moments of light. 

Just a few more moments. 


	15. Harsh Punishments

Aoife paid the coachman well, making sure he was compensated for having to drive quite so far out of his way, with a happy grin and a tilt of his hat he was away, urging his ghostly white horses out into the night, the cold air making smoke spirals flow out of his mouth as he sang a happy tune alone his way.

Aoife sighed miserably, turning around there under a vast blanket of stars and a bright full moon stood Elle, speechless for a moment she tried to think of the words she should say, the ones that she would say if she were a better person.

"Elle I..."

Elle moved forward pressing her finger to her lips. "This has been such a wonderful night, please, let me enjoy it a little longer."

 

Her heartfelt plea made Aoife stop, the feel of her skin pressed against her lips made her want too many things, made her yearn for more, pushing aside her doubts for a time, a wicked idea popped into her mind, Elle should have known it was dangerous to do such an action to her.

Aoife's green eyes set firmly on Elle as she opened her mouth and sucked the digit gently, causing Elle to gasp at the strange sensation.

A strange unfamiliar tingling began in a place she couldn't quite name that grew more intense as Aoife sucked harder, running her tongue around the finger slowly, tickling the sensitive wet skin.

Long moments passed until Aoife let her go, giving her a salacious smile that held a whole world of infinite promises unspoken.

Elle stood stock still, her heart racing and her mind had shut down, what was that and also a part of her wondering how she could recreate those sensations again.

"From the drapes twitching, I see some are still awake." Aoife smiled taking her hand and despite her shell-shocked demeanor pulled her towards the door.

" They were watching? " Elle asked angry and annoyed, why couldn't they mind their own business in her mind she imagined only one person who could be standing to lurk by the window, intruding on their lovely moment, it had to be nosy Laura, she'd watched her, she was always poking her nose into other people's business. "I bet it's Laura." She said with displeasure.

Aoife laughed. "No doubt about it, she's got a gift that one for nosiness."

Stopping by the closed door Aoife pulled her hands into her own, cradling them affectionately as they looked into each other's eyes. "I'm so glad this isn't 1872 now," Aoife said.

" Why? "

"Because I'd have to leave you, pass you through the doors and try to forget you for a night, or worse, days until the next ball or party, it's not easy to live with the torture of not seeing your beautiful smile." Aoife sighed knowingly, she'd lived far too long with just the memory.

Elle mimicked Aoife and raised an eyebrow upward. "You sound like you know."

" What, err yeah well I went the whole morning without seeing you so, that was bad enough. " Aoife said flustered trying to cover her tracks.

Elle smirked slightly, her little heart doing a somersault in her chest. She loves meeeeee!!! 

"You are just happy you have no disapproving father around to stop you from taking me upstairs ." Her eyes widened at her own bold words.

Aoife moved closer to her, making her walk backward until her back pressed against the wall, the feel of Aoife against her was too intoxicating and still buzzing from her little finger play Elle worried she would expire on the spot.

"Now our little nosy Norah can't see us." Aoife purred into her ear.

"That doesn't begin with an L."

" No, but it does rhyme with Laura. "

Elle laughed loudly. "So you do know her name."

" Of course, it's more fun to act as though I don't. " Aoife said.

"So you aren't going to fall in love with her like everyone else." Elle pouted. She wanted Aoife all to herself, she didn't want to see her head turned away, her sweet words and headed gazes saved for someone else.

Aoife frowned, lifting her chin to make her look into her eyes. "I find it a rather strange phenomena that anyone can ever look at her at all, or anyone else, when you are in the world, if someone wanted a shrill, dull busybody then I'm sure she is perfect but, when one wants true rare beauty, intelligence and sweetness then I'm afraid it can only be found in you."

" You really do always know what to say. " Elle smiled.

 

"My muse is far too inspiring, why should I take the credit when you are the one with the answers I merely note them down and speak them out loud."

"Kiss me," Elle whispered.

Aoife didn't wait, she didn't need to reply, instead, she answered by tilting her head slightly and brushed her lips against Elle's. Aoife felt herself open up as she parted her lips, her hand running up Elle's arm to her shoulder. Elle laid her hands on Aoife's hips and held her. The vampire's brow furrowed as she parted her lips again, this time Elle followed her lead, she wasn't very experienced she told herself Aoife seemed to know what she was doing.

Their tongues touching it felt like being attacked by a buzz of electricity, it was weird and yet it felt good, Elle couldn't help the swell of pride that inflated in her chest as Aoife let out a moan of pure pleasure.

Aoife couldn't stop herself, although she knew she had to, Elle had told her she wasn't ready for anything physical so, despite her own crazy hormones she broke the kiss, Elle brought her hand up to touch her face a smile broke out across her swollen lips. "I hope that's not my last goodnight kiss tonight."

 

October 10th, 1580, Smerwick, County Kerry, Ireland

_Loyalty had made her stay, loyalty to her people. to her country the land that held the bones of her forefathers, now she felt sick._

_Unnoticed stood just beyond their vision in the horizon, but she could see them well enough, the harsh sound of metal striking through bone and muscle as though it were nothing but scraggly butcher meat._

_The shrill frightened haunted cries and shouts that echoed through the Glenn, the mother crying, screaming as her child met their fate at the blade of the ax, while another met her violent end by way of a brutal rape by a gang of soldiers._

_The blood ran out into the sea, bodies decapitated thrown to a watery grave._

_The English oppressors showing again what happened when the Freeman wanted freedom, their unnatural lust for power and land coiled up with their unnatural desire for death._

_Aoife swallowed hard, it hurt the lump that had formed in her throat acting as an obstacle._

_Anger swelled in her chest as she shifted on her feet, a whole English army stood below, they'd just massacred hundreds of besieged soldiers, innocent women and children, she felt disgusted knowing the pawns, the innocent had met a violent end while commanders had been left to live._

_Slipping out her sword, she lifted it high into the air, the flash reflected the sun and caught the attention of the army below, it seemed a little woman thought she could battle with them, they fell over themselves with laughter._

_Aoife's face remained stoic, a violent eerie war cry echoed by her ancestors for as long as they had been able to speak. "Bàs_ dhan _nàmhaid_ oir tha _e_ marbh _." death to the enemy for he is_ death _, the mystical words echoed down to their ears as seated now atop a large black steed she charged towards them sword raised high as she slashed and stabbed her way through the murderous hordes, jumping from her horse and throwing herself into the fray, no one laughed now at the magically haunting woman who tore apart men with her hands and mouth, they ran in fear and yet Aoife was not ready to show mercy , no one had shown mercy to the poor innocents they'd slain._

 _"Chan fhàg_ thu an seo _beò!" She growled out loudly before pouncing on a retreating soldier, the promise of her words in her eyes he would not be leaving this field alive._

_" No please I have a pregnant wife. " He cried._

_Aoife smirked, disgust in her eyes. "Chan_ eil uallach orm airson _do_ bhean _." And she didn't care, she'd seen the human enemy commit inhuman acts of evil, she would not let that slip. " Your wife will thank me. "_

 _"No wait pl..._ ahhhhh _"_

 _In seconds he was devoured, his echo the only thing that remained of him, she raised herself up, her body soaked with blood, her eyes a feral angered hate, she shouted out again I to the sky. "Cha_ bhi _gin de_ na beathaichean seachad _air_ an latha _an-_ diugh _!"_

_She had kept her promise, very few had left alive, at the end the disheveled Aoife stood in the middle of a vast field of death, the wind blowing her raven hair around wildly, and like a ancient mythical Celtic warrior queen she left, finding her horse she left Smerwick leaving only with her the stories told by those lucky enough to service, to the few Irish spared the wrath of the English she was a Godly appropriation send from the heavens by the Lord, to the English who faced her violence she was an evil malevolent witch sent from the very barrels of hell._

Aoife sat bolt upright the images of unwanted death filled her dreams often, it was the first since she'd had to worry about another person finding out, she turned her head Elle to her discomfort was stirring awake, her hand running through her hair sleepily.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Aoife gulped harshly jumping out from under the covers and going to stand to look through the window so she wouldn't have to look at the lovely woman. " I've been thinking. "

Elle sat up, her eyes watching her every move with interest. "That doesn't sound good."

" Err..no, well not for me at least, for you, I imagine it will be different. "

 

"What is it?"

" Elle, you are wonderful, so vital and beautiful, it would be selfish of me to make you crawl down into the darkest pits of hell with me, you deserve someone who can share your light because they have one too, I..I can't even spend the day on a fucking beach. "

Elle felt the alarm sound, she leaped from the bed and moved towards Aoife, days ago this one act would have scared her, but not anymore.

Not waiting to speak she threw her arms around her from behind and held onto her tightly. "I spent over a century there, I know it's power, I know the feeling, yet when I look at you, when I am with you when you smile at me, I feel only light, I feel happy and I haven't been happy in a very long time."

Aoife felt a tear run down her cheek as she felt Elle's body press into her own, the feel of breasts pushed up against her back.

"Please don't leave me," Elle whispered.

"Tha gaol agam ort." Aoife whispered kissing Elle's hand.

" What does that mean? "

Aoife remained silent for a moment, she couldn't tell her what it really meant, that was why she had said it in her mother tongue, to tell her she loved her now was a bad move, instead, she made something up. "It means you are lovely."

"Hmm, really what is love in Gaelic, that is what you were speaking wasn't it?"

Aoife nodded. "It was, love, is gaol."

Elle chuckled. "How ironic that it is also the English for jail."

Aoife let out a pained groan, she could testify to that, she'd fallen in love and found herself serving a prison sentence for it, but now there was Elle, she didn't want her to leave, could she forgive herself and try to make amends for her wrongs?

"I don't care about beaches and anyone else," Elle said firmly turning her around to face her. " You cast off your own glow and I can't see anyone else, I want a thousand more nights like tonight, I want more stolen kisses that rob me of breath and brain cells, I want you. "

Aoife bent her head to meet Elle's offered lips when just as they were about to meet, a loud bang hit the wall, followed by a groan and the very unwanted. "Oh Carm, just like that."

" Seriously, do they do anything else? " Aoife said frustrated and more than a little disgusted.

 

Elle bit her lip at the look on her face. "I'm guessing we know what nosy Norah does in her spare time."

" Hey, you don't laugh. " Aoife chuckled catch Elle as she tried to run away from her. "I dream about you."

" You do? " Elle asked shocked. "Wait I'm not being bitten in your dream am I?"

Aoife shook her head. "Not in a bad way."

" Is there a good way? "

"Oh yes, there is a very good way, don't worry you can begin to breathe again there is no blood, it's pleasure, there should be no macabre in pleasure, pain yes but not macabre," Aoife said to reassure her, sitting down on the edge of the bed and drawing her near to sit her on her lap. " In my dream you are withering under me, so alight with pleasure all you can feel is me, my mouth, my hands, my tongue, everywhere. "

"Interesting dreams you have." Elle coughed, feeling Aoife's hand creep up her leg.

" You have no idea, and when you think you can't possibly take it anymore I'm down there, my head between your legs. "

"What on earth are you doing down there?"

Aoife's eyes met Elle's the bed banging against the wall again only this time neither heard it, they were lost in their own little world.

"I'm doing what I promised I would do, and you all you can feel is my tongue and a bursting intense euphoria you've never experienced before. "

"I..."

" Yes, Carm. "

"Oh for fuck's sake, can't a vampire seduce someone anymore and in peace? There must be an annoying neighbor having sex all the time are they rabbits?" Aoife shouted out, asking Elle who dissolved into a fit of laughter, burying her head in Aoife's shoulder.


	16. Sweet Dreams

_"Hello?"_

_" Hello? "_

_"Aoife, is anyone here?" Elle cautiously stepped out from the darkness into the light of the moon that shone through the large window._

_The house had seemed deserted, she'd searched all of the upstairs and found nothing, no signs of life at all, not even a bug lying in wait to leap out and scare her._

_Anxiety raced through her as her hands shook as she tried to hold onto the banister rail, making her way down the steps in search of more life._

_"Aoife, I woke up and you weren't there."_

_An eerie silence spread all around, looking down at herself she jumped backward shocked to find she was back in her dress, scared and frightened she lifted up the hem and ran down the remaining steps._

_"Aoife, please where are you?" She shouted out her voice breaking._

_" Oh no please don't tell me I'm back here again, back to being a walking ghost reliving the past on a loop, please no. " She worried to herself. "Not again."_

_Racing into the ballroom she halted in her tracks when the doors slammed behind her, eyes wide she turned around, a dark figure stood there, hidden by the shadows from the seeking candlelight._

_The room was like a scene out of the balls her father had thrown, candles adorned around the room like bright soldiers standing to attention, a faint scent of cinnamon drifted through the air softly kissing the air with its fragrance._

_Elle's hands shook. "I would be careful, I have a very angry vampire who is utterly in love with me, she'll be very annoyed if you harm me."_

_A small laugh emerged from the figure, stepping out into the light, a soft yellow glow lighting up the harsh plains of her face like a dramatic portrait. "I'm aware of that."_

_" Aoife. " Elle called startled. "What are you doing hiding?"_

_" I wasn't hiding, I was waiting for you. " As she said it she emerged fully into the light, Elle gasped Aoife too was dressed in her dreaded Victorian garb._

 

_"Aoife please, I'm scared._

_Swiftly the vampire made her way across the room to where she stood, taking her hands in her own, concern in her eyes, then casting her gaze around the room looking for the threat that made her so scared. "What's wrong, why are you afraid?"_

_" What is going on? "_

_Aoife smirked a little, letting out a relieved sigh, she wouldn't have to be doing any murdering tonight, "Don't be scared, you see this is all a dream you've made up in your mind."_

_" A dream? "_

_"Not one of those dreams." Aoife corrected her, imagining what she was thinking from the look in her eyes. " Right here and now I'm all yours, and there is absolutely no one that can harm you, I promise."_

_Out of nowhere, phantom music began to play from where Elle could not tell she tried to see if she could find a musician or a band, the music seemed to have no source and yet it played such earnest sweet tunes, serenading them with its charming melody._

_Aoife smiled, extending her arm out she offered her hand, giving a happy chuckle Elle placed her hand into the waiting hand and was swept into the vampire's strong arms. "May I have this dance, Ms. Sheridan?"_

_" I don't know is your name on my dance card, I'm just overloaded with gentlemen wanting to dance with me. " Elle feigned disinterest, looking around the room as though it were filled with admirers._

_"Oh, is that true, well I'm afraid to inform you that I dealt with them all Ms. Sheridan, very quickly and very efficiently, I wanted you all to myself."_

_"Oh did you?" Elle smiled indulgingly._

_" I did, you see I have a wish I've wanted to do for a very long time and tonight I'm going to do it and no one was going to stop me. " Slowly she began to move their bodies to the music, shifting from foot to foot with ease, until together they twirled and spiraled around the room._

_"What was your wish?"_

_Aoife smiled. "To dance with you."_

_" Really? " How could this big bad old vampire's wish be to dance with her, she'd probably had dates with Casanova and dined with dubious Queens set to get back their unfaithful husbands, maybe she'd had plans to take over the world at some point, yet no, she wanted to dance with her, had she waited over a century for that one wish or had it been a recent development?_

_"Oh yes, did you ever wonder why some dances are forbidden?" Aoife asked seductively._

_" Because they are inappropriate. " Elle replied, that was what she'd been told, only wish harsher words, a string of etiquette teachers and governesses had warned her of the sins of certain dances. "My mother told me when I was young, they lead  me into trouble."_

_Aoife's eyes sparkled. "And do you want me to lead you into trouble, Ms. Sheridan?"_

_Elle felt her face flame, felt a flutter of butterflies attack in the pit of her stomach._

_"Did you know some species of birds perform a dance to their potential mate? It's the same for humans or vampires." Aoife smirked pulled her closer until they were as close as they could be. "The dance mimics sex, two bodies as close as can be, overheated and sweaty, hips moving in sync, breath catching in your throat as excitement builds."_

_Elle's face flushed as she averted her eyes from Aoife's intense green gaze. " Why does it always seem as though you are seducing me? "_

_"Hey, this is your dream little one, and some people believe dreams mirror our deepest desires."_

_"Oh really?" Elle asked amused, a twinkle of a challenge in her eyes as Aoife moved them skillfully around the room._

_" I guarantee it, Ms. Sheridan. "_

_"I thought I asked you to call me by my first name."_

_Aoife tightened her hold on her, moving her hand until it sat just above her bottom. "And what is your first name, no, in fact, tell me your whole name."_

_" How can you not know? " Elle asked amused._

_"Easily, do you know my full name?" Aoife challenged._

_Elle opened her mouth to answer then stopped herself, did she know Aoife's full name? what was her middle name she must have had one? "Maybe I do not."_

_Aoife laughed throwing her head back. "Actually you do, I have no middle names when I was born no one used middle names, not in Ireland, or England, Scotland, and Wales, we didn't need them, so tell me yours."_

_Elle blushed a little. "You must promise not to laugh."_

_" On my honor my lady I swear I will not laugh. " The vampire said with a serious determined manner as though she were a knight promising the fair maiden who'd favored her in a tournament._

_Elle watched her for a short moment, "My name is, or was at my baptism in London on November 12th, 1853 Eleanor Catherine Elisabeth Viktoria Augusta Ludovika Leopoldina Gisela Sheridan."_

_Aoife lifted an eyebrow up._

_"Do you still love me?" Elle asked cautiously._

_Aoife grimaced dramatically. " It's touch and_ go _, that is a hell of a long name. "_

_Elle smiled. "My mother had eighteen."_

_" No way, what does anyone need eighteen names for? "_

_"Are you, you who is the sister of Carmilla really asking me that? how many times has she changed her names?" The shorter woman asked playfully._

_"Too many times, forget about her, this is our dream, she doesn't belong here," Aoife whispered hoarsely her eyes penetrating Elle's until the smaller woman felt all vestiges of thought robbed from her mind._

_Suddenly the music stopped and the room changed the ballroom disappeared and suddenly they were in their bedroom, the four_ poster _gothic styled bed bit into the back of Elle's legs as Aoife moved closer._

_"How did we get here?"_

_Aoife lifted her hand to touch the gentle skin on Elle's face, leaning forward until their lips touched, deepening the kiss, pushing Elle back against the bed listening to the low hum of approval that came from Elle and vibrated through their kiss._

_The vampire's hand ran up and under Elle's dress, the silk underwear underneath caressed her skin, but right at that moment it was in the way, she needed to get rid of it._

_Rising up above her, her raven black hair falling down framing her face to the woman who lay below looking up, Aoife cracked a smile. "This really is your dream, it's like Fort Knox down there, why did you have to have a dream where you were in Victorian dress, I've forgotten how difficult this is."_

_" I'm sorry. "_

_Aoife sighed pulling herself from the bed as Elle watched confused she didn't want her to leave, she wanted her to stay and make the burning sensation fade away, she wanted to feel her mouth against her hot skin, feel her hands move over her body._

_"Wait, where are you going?"_

_" The next time you have a kinky dream make sure you go a little easier on the undergarments, maybe turn up in nothing at all, I'm sure the awake me would love that if you did that too," Aoife said sternly as she faded into the darkness._

_Elle breathed deeply on the bed, still watching, hoping that Aoife would return, she didn't. "I'm really starting to hate her, why does she have to do that, wind me up and then walk away?"_

 

Elle Sheridan opened her eyes from her intensely unsatisfying dream, no doubt inspired by Aoife's offerings of long hot kisses and finger sucking.

Rolling onto her back she turned her head to find much to her disappointment the bed empty and Aoife was gone, she touched her pillow softly with the tips of her fingers, it was frozen cold, letting out a long deep sigh as she pulled the pillow to her and smiled, taking a deep intake of breath, taking in the scent of the woman.

A faint familiar voice came through the window.

_"Quit your pouting face ache, your paying for it, and that is the end of the story."_

Elle smiled, clutching the pillow further to her, hoping to hear more of her before she decided to disappear and Elle would have to leave the warmth of her bed to find her.

 

_"I'm not!"_

Elle frowned, _She's talking to Carmilla_.

_"Listen to me Precious one, you destroyed it and you are going to pay for it, it's pay with money or I'll use you to decorate the whole room with, do you understand?" Aoife's voice was low but threatening._

_" Screw you! "_

_"You knew more than anyone what those books meant to her, yet you did it anyway, your so superficial Mircalla, spent over a century telling everyone she was your first love, oh poor heartbroken Mircalla, then when you get a new distraction you forget her, you didn't even hurt me with your little act, you hurt Elle."_

_" It seems like this is bothering you all the same. " Carmilla said a bit too smugly. "So my little act did work."_

Elle narrowed her eyes, her wakeful happiness departing as she listened to the smugness in the vampire's voice, she bit her fingers down into the pillow with anger, her fingers turning white with the effort, pushing the covers away she ran to the window hoping to get a better place to hear what was going on. 

As she drew aside the drapes a little she saw them below, the sun had decided to take the day off, outside was gloomy and grey so both vampires were bold in their attire, although not totally free, Aoife lurked ominously closer to her sister, her eyes from what Elle could see looked angry and harsh, gone was the softness of the night before, even in her dreams she took a break from seduction to make sure she was okay. 

 

_"Snigger all you like, little girl, you are the only one who thinks it is funny, destroying something someone loves is never funny, you should know that, but as I say, you only ever think of yourself, that was why you ended up nearly decapitated and dissected by that gang of vampire hunters, and why we spend a whole decade dodging that nutcase Niklas, you just had to go and fuck his wife Mircalla, who saved your ass then? Hmm, who was it?"_

"Who the fudge is Niklas?" Elle whispered, an invisible member of their arguing party. 

_"You but you did take your time doing it."_

_"You insisted then she was the absolute love of your life, poor little Genova you said to me, she has an awful husband, she is so sweet." Aoife mocked her voice._

_"Yeah, well I may have been easily fooled."_

_"Easily fooled she was a fucking crazy woman, she actually tried to take mother's head off with the intention of eating it, and you seemed surprised when mother clicked her fingers and turned her into dust, and to be fair, she was always on the wrong side of good and evil but Mother was innocent on that occasion she just sneezed."  Aoife sighed, "Then we had to deal with a crazed love sick heartbroken grieving self-styled king of the vampires of Venice who'd had his wife stolen by you and murdered_ by _mother, and it was all your fault Mircalla."_

Elle watched as Carmilla shrugged her shoulders as though it were nothing. _"Can't you forget about this it was 1650 I was a young innocent."_

_"What the hell was your excuse every other damn time? You are paying and I have the builders coming today, I want to surprise her, I can't fix her books sadly, but I can try and remove the fucking burned walls for her, so you get your checkbook ready or you will be finding the wrong end of my wrath, and you know what that means Mircalla!"_

Elle ducked down as Aoife turned towards the house, afraid that she would be seen, finding her beloved library as she had done, had broken her heart truly and made her angry, but finding out that Aoife was restoring it that made her feel so very happy. 

Turning away from the sight of a brooding sulking Carmilla, had she never heard of posture in her life? Elle smiled feeling light as air, had Aoife always been like this, she thought back to when she had cut a haunting figure and she'd scared her, but she was like that now and yet she was so much more, Elle began to wonder what would have happened if she'd have met Aoife instead of Carmilla, she felt for certain Aoife would never have chosen her, and yet if she hadn't and she had fallen for her back then she would be dead now and Aoife would have moved on. 

A sense of sadness overcame her at the thought, maybe in some senses through the abyss had been a torturing hell, maybe it had been the fate for her to end up here like this now, in the modern world with Aoife. 

Elle began to smile again, she could go down there right now and in front of everyone just kiss her, she could kiss her anytime she wanted to, she really loved to kiss her. 

Halfway towards the door, she halted. "Oh, goodness me I have to dress first."


	17. Sparring Sessions

"So wise teacher what is my lesson for today?" Elle sang sweetly as she entered the room, hoping to find Aoife all alone instead she found the woman of her dreams in deep conversation with Danny, heads too close together they seemed to be plotting something.

Elle frowned, her two eyebrows almost touching her eyelids, she didn't like how close they were sitting together.

 

Aoife lifted her head up at the sound of her voice, a slow smile creeping across her mouth, stretching her lips out thinly, a night filled with her usual recurring dreams had not helped her bruised and aching libido.

Only this time the dream had seemed far too real and vivid the smells were more vibrant the touch of her skin was far too soft and silken, and oddly a strange all too brief end involving far too much underwear.

Still it was the furthest her dreams had ever gotten, usually Carmilla had shown up halfway through and stolen her away, she'd always been willing of course, and Aoife was left alone standing in the center of the room watching them run away hand in hand a kiss or two exchanged turning around only to laugh.

Pushing aside her morose thoughts, Aoife smiled again. "Hey, you're awake."

" Yeah, I suppose I am, these early mornings are so strange. "

Danny blinked rapidly. "Early mornings, it is half past ten."

Elle blushed.

Aoife laughed holding her hand out to the woman who was still standing in front of her looking so adorable, when Elle reached forward to take it Aoife pulled her near to sit on the chair next to her, keeping a hold of her hand as she did. "For the wealthy Victorian noble half past ten was extremely early."

"No way that is crazy." 

"Danny and I were just talking about our plan for the Anglerfish." She said as the other vampire nodded.

"Especially since Carmilla has gone all twisted fire starter on us." Danny shrugged.

Aoife glared at her, she'd told Danny there was to be no mention of Carmilla and how she set fire to the library while Elle was around, Aoife didn't want her to get upset and angry again. "Today we were starting our self-defense class." She said to change the subject.

" We are? " Elle asked keenly.

"Yes, there is no need to wait, we may as well use the free time to do something," Aoife said innocently, hiding her own selfish motives for wanting to start the activity.

Danny tried to hide the smirk that was desperate to appear, Aoife was never readable, but when it came to Elle Sheridan Danny was learning she was an open book, one with a very predictable story.

"Will you be joining us?" Elle asked her a little harder than she had intended.

Danny laughed. "Oh no, I did my time in the Drugain class, she's all yours."

" Good. " Elle smiled with glee turning to look at the woman, it was quite strange and wonderful how her fortunes had changed in such a short time, it seemed like moments ago she'd been a vengeful spirit seeking what she was owed, her life, and now she had a life and a beautiful woman who was interested in her.

Her beloved library was gone but the aforementioned woman was planning a surprise for her, no one had ever done anything like that for her before.

"Oh, do not sound so happy, she is a total slave driver."

Aoife lifted an amused eyebrow upward. "Excuse me, you were a stubborn self-entitled newly turned vampire, I had to be tough on you, Elle here is a little easier to get along with." And there may be other reasons why this will be fun. 

Danny rolled her eyes dramatically, she knew very well that if it hadn't have been for Aoife and her not so subtle talks and advice he would not have left university, she'd have stuck with mother and heaven knows where she would be now, she certainly wouldn't have found herself where she had done.

She thought back to the very first time they'd ever met, a fond feeling crept in her chest, she'd been hateful and desperate, she had felt abandoned and betrayed by her friends and then in the horizon came Aoife, like a fallen angel dressed in head to toe Gucci. 

Five years earlier, Silas University

_"We should just go in there and drag them out!" Danny said angrily, she'd been trying to get everyone to see this view as the best course of action but no one was listening._

_The sudden sound of heels echoing around the room from beyond the door caught everyone's attention, it grew louder and louder as suddenly without knocking, a move no one dared ever, the door burst open and there in the doorway stood a woman she'd never seen before._

_Dressed all in black, even her shades and hat she looked like a demonic Audrey Hepburn rouge lips plump and formed into a permanent straight line her head turned around, behind the dark shades her eyes searching the room._

_"Alright which one of you is my mother? I really wish you would keep the same face." She complained._

_The red-haired woman stood up, Danny would never get used to her having Perry's body, so strange to see her and not be so consumed with cleaning and baking._

_She smiled stretching her black lips wide yet somehow unconvincing, she never smiled not really, the action never met her eyes, they never danced with alignment, the 'new' Perry had a devious intent and she showed it on her face. "There you are my darling, what has taken you so long?"_

_Aoife spent a short moment taking in the new face, new voice but still the same old mother, in five centuries she'd seen her with far too many faces than she cared to remember, she'd learned to adapt. "Hello mother, it's been two hundred years since you were a redhead."_

_" It's the closest I had to go with, I'm trying to make the best of an adequate situation, you haven't answered my question, where have you been I called you two weeks ago. "_

_Aoife shrugged arrogantly sitting down on the chair available. "I have a very interesting  ménage à trois going on at the moment mother, I was rather busy, who wants to prize themselves away from being the lettuce in a busty blonde sandwich?"_

_The older woman rolled her eyes. "I hate when you lie darling, you never liked blondes, don't pretend like you are starting now, we all remember your type, I seem to recall your taste and a certain disloyal Carmilla went in the same direction."_

 

_Aoife remained silent for a long moment, her eyes held an unfathomable emotion in the depths of her crystal green eyes that Danny feared she would shoot lasers from them, then like a switch as though it had never happened it was gone, and she was returned to her cool gaze. "It's the twenty-first-century mother I'm turning over a new leaf."_

_Her Mother's whole presence changed then as she slammed her hand down onto the desk with a force so great that it made the delicate wood split, she didn't flinch at the force or the blood that erupted from her hand, turning her fierce gaze onto Aoife. "I know you've seen her!"_

_Aoife shrugged unaffected. "Seen who?"_

_"You know who I mean, you've been as thick as thieves for far too long to act as though you have no idea who I am talking about."_

_Aoife smirked, she knew she just wasn't willing to play along so willingly, she'd been far too long away from her mother's oppressive glare that she enjoyed the freedom, she'd never been her star pupil, but now she rather loved the rebellious feeling. "Still struggling to come up with names here, I last hung out with Louise Brooks in 1925, and we were inseparable for a week only, but what a week it was." She winked far too smugly._

_"Matska, you have seen her!" She spat angrily. "What did she say?"_

_"Oh, Mattie, jeez mother why didn't you say so before, what makes you think I have seen her at all, she is dead isn't she?" Aoife shrugged._

_"Because if you hadn't you wouldn't be sitting there treating her demise at the hands of that..that poster child for mediocrity, as fun and being blase about the whole thing, now what did she say?"_

_She'd never met Carmilla's new five minute wonder, but she couldn't deny she applauded this new found fire that had started up her sister's ass to get her moving, doing something she actually felt proud of, going against mother finally, after so long of being her little cute, sweet lapdog, it didn't change Aoife's mind on the past or even the future but it was still a good feeling to have. "Why Mother I cannot give details as I haven't seen her at all, I am merely calm and cool because I have come to terms with how awful and cruel life is and know the people I love always seem to die, it's life."  Her words stung more after she spoke them, she hadn't thought before choosing them just how right they were, Mattie seemed to have_ an ability _to come and go occasionally she'd had to convince her secretary in her London office that she wasn't going mad when she heard her talking to herself, it had been Mattie, she smiled then, that had been just three days ago._

_She had seen no need to hurry along to her mother's call, she wasn't going to take Carmilla's place for anything in this world._

_"So you are saying you haven't seen her and you know nothing?"_

_"I don't know what you expect of me, mother but I have no idea what games you are all playing, you are forgetting it's been a hell of a long time since Carmilla and I were even in the same room, I wore a fucking corset then for christ sake."_

_Her mother tutted, her eyes lazily running over her wayward daughter, she'd become far too independent for her liking. "Now I know you are lying."_

_"I don't know what you are talking about." Aoife shrugged._

_"Aoife, darling you think I believe in fate or coincidence? and who else in this whole world would have cared enough to rescue my poor dear sweet Carmilla?" She bent down until she face was level with Aoife's, so close now their noses almost touched yet Aoife didn't move, she didn't flinch, not even a muscle of her face pulsed. "But you."_

_"The poor dear sweet Carmilla you buried in a coffin in the ground?" Aoife scoffed._

_Her mother ran a long fingernail across Aoife's jawline. "Sometimes darling even those we love must be punished for their own good."_

_"Yeah, sure let's go with that shall we."_

_"Careful my darling you will give the game away and show us all how much you still care for poor little Mircalla." She pouted, rising to her full height with a sigh. "You have been useless to me, as usual, Aoife."_

_"I like to keep up with your expectations mother, it makes me happy to know you are happy." Aoife faked a smile._

_"Oh, Aoife dear let me introduce you to the newest member of our happy family." She smiled walking towards the tall woman. "Isn't she delightful?"_

_Aoife lifted an eyebrow. "Happy family, are you for real?"_

 

"Come on give me some of that glare you gave poor Danny this morning." Aoife provoked as she shifted from foot to foot, her hands balled up into slight fists as she dodged an invisible punch then righted herself again. 

They'd spent all morning and afternoon turning the ballroom into a gym of sorts, even down to the punching bag that hung up in the center. 

"I was born a gentile lady we do not fight," Elle said frustrated, blowing the hair that fell into her eyes out of the way, she'd thought Aoife would go easy on her it would be a sort of date, where she would be sweet but Aoife was a total badass and Elle had no idea how to take that. And there is no one here who could steal you away. 

"Yes well let me ask you one question when you traveled where did you keep that cute little tiny ladies gun?" Aoife asked smugly dropping her stance and moving closer, unable to resist the allure anymore of standing close to her, she had thought Elle was irresistible before, but a sweaty Elle was surprisingly delicious looking and it was getting harder to resist that pouting little petulant eyes when they bore into hers. 

"It was in a pouch on my thigh and what is your point?" Elle asked her eyes tracking every move the tricky vampire made as she walked around her, their eyes locked together. 

Circling the woman Aoife finally settled behind her, wrapping her arms around her waist and pulling her closer, settling her head on Elle's shoulders. "My point Ms. grouchy is this, the world is a dangerous place and it always has been, but then women were slight poor sweet creatures too soft, delicate and stupid to do such things as fight or even sneeze, lest they find themselves in an asylum." 

"And now?" Elle asked slightly breathless, the soft touch of Aoife's full passionate lips on her neck sent a shiver up her spine. 

"Now it's encouraged, well by many some still think women as soft creatures too weak to be treated with any respect or consideration, and then they meet one who can kick their ass five ways to next Sunday and they really cannot take it, I meet many men like that in business, the worst ones though are the women, the ones who think we should be ruled by men."

Elle found a way to let out a chuckle at the tone of her voice. "And what do you say to them?"

"I asked them when exactly it was they were turned into Stepford wives and when they plan to remove their husband's hand from up their ass so they can speak for themselves instead of doing a ventriloquist act." Aoife shrugged, losing interest in her point as the touch of Elle's bare neck made contact with her lips, taking the opportunity to place an open-mouthed kiss there, letting her tongue slowly slip out and take in the salty sweat that coated her skin. 

Elle felt a moment's panic, her old demons still lurked and the memory of those dreams still haunted her so much, yet right now beyond the normal panic was the underlined knowledge that it was Aoife, if she wanted to hurt her she would have done it, they shared a bed, she could have hurt her while she slept and yet she hadn't. 

Aoife's hands moved from their place at her stomach down to her hips, holding her in place, gently caressing her hips and thighs before occasionally turning her attention to her bottom, all the while keeping up her expert kisses to her neck, running along upward to take the lobe of her ear between her teeth and softly biting down, letting her tongue travel the edge of her ear. 

Elle sighed, feeling herself surrender to Aoife's actions, turning now to jelly as she let herself her held up by her, her own knees threatening to give way. 

Then suddenly, far too suddenly for Elle's liking Aoife pulled herself away and with an innocent enchanting smile she returned to her place in front of her, her fingers wiggling as she challenged her to come forward and attack her as she had taught her. 

"What?" Elle blinked in disbelief. Get back here and finish what you were doing!

 

"Come on, come at me." 

"Fine!" Elle huffed out frustrated and more than a little-pissed off, with a speed she charged at Aoife, lunging forward messily to make contact with her and in one swift motion Aoife had grabbed her and now sat on top of her Elle flat on the ground looking up with surprised eyes at her. 

Aoife smiled smugly. "I may have had ulterior motives." Leaning down to place a far too quick kiss to her lips, before springing back up to her feet and turning away to head to the punching bag. "Come on get up, and meet my little friend."

"I hope this isn't how you taught Danny." Elle pouted pulling herself up from the ground. 

Aoife winked. "Come over here and find out."


	18. Elle

London, England, March 3rd, 1860

_Her small stubby legs swayed back and forth as she sat at her table, her four guests sitting silently and happily without protest on the three other small chairs around the table._

_The little girl smiled happily, her cheeks plump and rosy pulled back to reveal her sweet dimples, she had hated it when the maids had pinched her cheeks and called her cute, she hated people who did that to her._

_Reaching to the center of the table she picked up the mini silver teapot pouring it into the elegant china cup of her guests, pushing aside the ribbon in her hair. "I must fank you Mr. Teddy for coming to meet with me."_

_The brown gruff bear said nothing, his brownstone like eyes stared off into space instead, it didn't matter the child nodded with a smile. "Oh that is so lovely of you to say Mr. Teddy, and you Mr. Ruffles do you care for a biscuit?" She mimicked all the English ladies she'd seen, picking up the tray of special biscuits the cook had made for her special tea party._

_Taking one small biscuit for herself she nibbled on the end carefully, closing her eyes and sighing against the deliciousness._

_"You were very late though, I feared you wouldn't be coming." She said in her childlike way trying to scold her cuddly bear._

_The life of an only child was often a lonely one, the little girl sighed wistfully turning away from her party to look out of the window, the rain hitting the window with a hard pitter patter._

_There would be no trip to Hyde Park today with Nanny, no exploring the garden with the maids, instead she picked up her cup and saucer elegantly and took a sip._

_A soft knock came at the door._

_"Hello, Elle." Her mother's sweet gentle accented voice called to her like a siren breaking her from her melancholy._

_"Momma!" She called happily. " Come Momma and join our tea party. "_

_With an indulgent smile, Magdalena sat down on the carpet next to Mr. Teddy watching as her daughter took out a cup and saucer for her and poured her tea, with a preferred biscuit, of course, to dip inside the non-existent hot beverage._

_"Here you are, Momma." Elle smiled merrily._

_" Thank you, my dear. " Magdalena said cheerfully indulging her child by taking a sip and making a show of saying how utterly wonderful it was, and how it was the most beautiful tea she'd ever drunk._

_The woman watched her daughter, her light brown hair pulled high above her head, as matching eyebrows furrowed and creaked, small lines appeared at the corners of her eyes and mouth as she thought intently._

_"Elle, your Father and I need to tell you something."_

_" What is it, Momma? " Elle smiled, her cherub-like face scrunched up happily._

_"Do you remember I told you about the place I was born?"_

_Elle nodded her head._

_"Good, well your father he has gotten a job there and he thinks it will be a wonderful opportunity for all of us."_

_Elle thought silently for a moment her brows lowering over her eyes. "When do we leave Momma?"_

_Her mother pursed her lips, she didn't want to tell her this, she didn't want to have to break her heart, she didn't want to do this to her baby, but her husband thought this was for the best. "Your father and I will be going, your father thinks that you should stay here and enjoy a proper English ladies education."_

_" You are leaving me? " Elle cried, already the tears were forming in her eyes as she grasped at her mother. "Please Momma, please don't leave me alone, please." She was already lonely, without her mother she feared she would lose everything._

_Magdalena cried her own tears as she held her daughter tightly, for some reason George wanted to live in Austria, he would take their money and live in her families home yet their daughter could not come with them, only an English education would do._

_Her mother had told her men were strange simple creatures, she had been right about George at least, maybe that had been why she died suddenly the night of her wedding._

_Her mother's tombstone fresh in her mind, she'd buried her but was unable to attend her funeral, death was no place for a woman society said, even when she'd faced it having her daughter, every woman rich and poor faced it every day. Mircalla Elisabetta Isabella Eleonore Wilhelmina von Schwarzenberg (1809-1849), the common family name was so common among her maternal family that at a reunion once in Vienna the room had been filled with_ Mircallas _, her own sister had been Mircalla before her early death at the age of nine._

_Her father was Count Heinrich Ludwig von Schwarzenberg, the younger brother of the infamous Austrian general Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg, that had been how George had gotten his new post through her cousin Edmund._

_She sighed, sometimes she felt like a stepping stone for him, as though she was only around to build him up and she just felt walked over, and now she would have to leave her only child alone._

 

Lady Mary's School For Girls, Cambridge, England, December 25th, 1863.

_The cold harsh hardwood of the window sill burned into her elbows as she used her hands to hold up her head, a desperate sigh escaping her chapped lips as her eyes followed the pattern of frost that littered the window pane._

_Her palms ached from the lashings of the cane she'd had to endure, her bottom lip protruded over her top, it wobbled as the memory of the violence returned, the fierce red face of Miss. Willis as the harsh thin wood met the child's soft skin still imprinted on her memory, the scent of jasmine made her feel sick still._

_She remembered Christmas Days when her parents had been here, it had been bright and vibrant but now, now she sat in a dull lifeless dorm room, the beds of twenty other girls all pilled around her, standing like a small narrow army, each patrolling an unhappy atmosphere, where sniffing and weeping became a background noise on constant._

_Today and for the holidays most of the other girls were at home with their families, she wished she was._

_Elle thought back to the day her parents had left her here, her_ heart breaking _as she begged her father to let her come with them, he had not listened instead he had patted her head and walked away._

_Her mother had walked too, they'd left her all alone._

_The aching cold echo of shoes began to get louder as she closed her eyes to try to block it out, burying her head in her hands as though she could hide._

_"There you are you little Ratbag!" A cruel voice called out cutting through the icy chill of the silence that stretched around the dark room._

_Elle gasped, turning around her two shoulders held high up, as her eyes stretched wide open with fear. "Sorry Miss. Willis, I was just watching the frost cover the window, it's ever such a beautiful thing to see."_

_The tall stick thin weedy teacher grimaced her bulbous peaky nose became even more repellent as it scrunched itself up tightly, wrinkles and folds scaring her pustulous face even more. "you are such a pretentious little bitch it's no wonder you have no friends Sheridan!"_

_" Yes, Miss. Willis. " Elle said sadly._

_"Yes, Miss. Willis." The woman mocked her voice high pitched and shrill, even more than her usual seagull like tone. " You are a little liar Sheridan. "_

_"I wasn't lying Miss. Willis, I swear it, I was in my bed asleep when I heard a noise and when I awoke there she was, a beautiful woman, the vision was so clear Miss. Willis."_

_" Women do not visit people in their bedchambers young lady, well not the decent kind, not unless they are a wagtail, or is this a premonition of your future, Sheridan? " The woman smirked cruelly._

_"There was a wound, on my chest Miss. Willis but when I woke up it was gone."_

_The teacher rolled her big beady bloodshot eyes, "I've had enough of these stories Sheridan! I hope you had enough at breakfast you will not be having anything else to eat again today!"_

_With determined anger, she turned on her stubby unfashionable heels and marched out with an arrogance that made Wellington look like a beggar and not a Duke._

_Elle felt the tears fall before she ever realized that she was crying, no one would believe her but the dreams were becoming more frequent, they scared her._

_She ran to her bed and jumped on in wrapping her arms around herself as she curled into a protective ball and let the tears fall, all the while calling for her Momma._

_She wouldn't come she never did, yet hope was at times a hopeless thing that built up one's dreams and desire until the inevitable occurred and the pain was vastly more intense for ever having believed it in the first place._

_In the quiet solitude of her office Miss. Willis sighed, pinching the bridge of her sharp boned nose with despair, the child was quite losing her mind and there seemed to be no way of ridding her of it, the beatings were not helping._

_It had shocked her she'd never met a child who hadn't benefited from severe corporal punishment, like a criminal a child needed to be treated harshly to set them in the correct path of lest they find themselves lost and without purpose in adulthood._

_"I thought I told you that dress is dreadfully dull."_

_The teacher jumped holding her breath, her hand clutched to her chest. "Goodness Lady Mary you quite frightened me."_

_Lady Mary arched her blonde eyebrow up, her pristine perfect porcelain face the epitaph of an English Rose, she sat arrogantly in the chair behind the desk. "You are too jittery dear, have some peppermint tea, my daughter Aoife swears by it, never cared for it myself."_

_" Your daughter? "_

_Lady Mary laughed. "Not everything is as it seems, people aren't who you imagine them to be, so Miss. Willis, how are my girls?"_

_Miss. Willis sighed, she hated when the school's patron, funder and founder turned up, the mere sight of her set her poor frail immoral heart aflutter in ways it had no right to do. "Everyone is at home for the Christmas holidays, only Miss. Sheridan is here, playing the troublemaker again I'm afraid."_

_" Oh, really and how is she doing that? "_

_"She keeps retelling tales of visions and being bitten, we've examined her, of course, there is nothing physically wrong with her."_

_Lady Mary stood up, stretching out her skirt as she did. "I think if this is the case Ms. Willis then the best place for her I would imagine is with her family, where did you say they were?"_

_" Styria, Austria Lady Mary, her mother was born in Vienna apparently to a diplomat in the court of the Holy Roman Emperor, but the family estate is in Styria. " Miss. Willis had listened intently as Mrs. Sheridan had recounted the tales of her family in her native Austria, the memory of her long eyelashes fluttering against her smooth milky skin as she blinked still stuck in her mind, her tongue that had come out to moisten her lips had set her heart rate up._

_Lady Mary nodded. "Interesting, it seems clear the child's separation from her family is the reason for her storytelling, write to her father and tell him of the situation, and that it would be beneficial to her to return there, and be homeschooled, it would be best for everyone involved." The gentlewoman smiled, an empty warmth behind it that made the teacher frown for a moment._

_" I imagine that you are right Lady Mary I will write to George Sheridan right away. "_

_"Good, good, now I must excuse myself, I have left Aoife in the carriage, she gets very annoyed if I keep her from her latest amore, goodbye Miss. Willis dearest." With a dramatic wave, the woman was out the door leaving the teacher watch after her._

_" Amore? " She questioned to the empty room. "How can Lady Mary have a child old enough to have any kind of amore, she's only thirty-one."_

Elle stood in the warming glow of the moonlight the awful haunting memories of her tragic lonely youth, she'd returned home, it was to find her mother sick, she didn't service past a month.

So much time she'd lost with her and so much time robbed with her, now she feared she'd even lost the memory of her face when she wanted to conjure her up only a half shadow came.

 

She remembered her lonely childhood, it still stuck in her chest like a dagger, there was no getting away from it, the fear had lead to her rash attachment to Carmilla and then to whatever had happened afterward that had sealed her doom in the monster pit of hell.

Arms suddenly wrapped around her, a warm body cozied up next to her the now familiar scent of Aoife's exotic aroma spiraled around her, the coldness suddenly banished to some far off place that was not allowed to return when the vampire was near.

"Can't sleep?" She asked in her trademark husky voice, her slight Irish accent ever present, Elle had found herself wondering how it was that after so many centuries Aoife had kept hers when Carmilla had long ago lost her native Austrian tone.

" No, stories from childhood keep replaying in my mind. " She sighed sadly, her eyes on the glass of the window, sad all over again, she saw herself, yet there was no Aoife.

"No reflection little one, I know what you are thinking, you are thinking how can I be so perfect every day if I can not see myself in a mirror, well that Ms. Sheridan is my little secret." Aoife chuckled sensing the other woman's melancholy mood.

" It's a good thing I suddenly realize you cannot see how big your head is. " Elle smiled.

"I have an ego, but it's well deserved."

Elle turned around in her arms, moving her arms around her neck and fitting herself closer, "At least you admit it."

Aoife smirked her lip riding up a little too high on the right side of her mouth the moonlight highlighting a perfect white fang that stuck out against a row of perfectly straight teeth, a chill went down Elle's back at the sight.

"What's wrong?" Aoife asked concerned sensing the change as Elle pushed her away needing to free herself from the new old intense feeling of fear and oppression. " Elle? "

"The teeth thing, I'm feeling a little uncomfortable at the sight. "

Aoife felt herself deflate at her words. "Oh." Fuck you Carmilla!

"I can't seem to get used to .."

" You kissed me only a few hours ago. " Aoife said why was this an issue now?

"I don't know," Elle whispered averting her eyes from Aoife's hurt confused gaze.

" I don't use them, I mean that it's been over a century since I have hurt a living person, and as you know I don't drink blood anymore, instead I use the soy substitute, I... I can't do anything about them. " Aoife said sounding like a lost little child seeking affirmation. "I did try, but I'm stuck with them."

Elle remained silent and with her silent voice went any hope Aoife had for a little bit of happiness, it seemed she'd already had it, she pursed her lips to steam the tears that threatened to overflow.

Instead, she fell back on her now old familiar smug smirk, it always worked as an excellent mask to hide behind and make the world think she didn't care. "Oh well, there we have it, I suppose." 

"Please." 

Aoife cut her off she didn.t need to hear the excuses, the insipid excuses, she just needed to leave and she needed to leave now. " I will leave you now, tomorrow when you have left the room I will get my things, I don't wish to make you any more uncomfortable, goodnight Ms. Sheridan. "

"What...what happened to Elle?" The other woman whispered her eyes clouding up with tears.

 

"Sometimes Ms. Sheridan we never get what we want, sleep well, I shan't bother you anymore." She said coldly before walking to the door and leaving, closing the door behind her as Elle watched her tears falling now cursing her own stupidity, her own damn fears, and pride.

"I didn't mean for you to leave."


	19. A Victorian Lady Walks Into A club....

Back in the deep unnatural pit again the light from the top blocked out by the vastness of the depth, the three vampires went through a special sort of deja vu.

Their second journey down into the gorged pit had occurred after Aoife declared to everyone that morning she would be coming down to deal with the annoying fish demon spawn. She had wanted to get this over with as soon as she could so she could leave, she didn't want to have to be around Elle so much.

And what made it worse was watching Lois Lanes and her fang-toothed Clark Kent fawn over each other constantly, it was enough to turn her stomach.

"Come on, let's get this thing done," Aoife said seriously walking ahead leaving Danny and Carmilla behind.

" Hey wait for me. " Danny called after her.

"Why the rush?" Carmilla asked trying not to sound very interested, but she'd noticed the frost that had crawled up Aoife's panties when it came to Elle.

"I want to get the hell out of here." The older vampire called back.

" But why I thought you and Elle were deaths lovely dream couple, so loved up and happy, it was sickening. "

 

"Says the woman who makes Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barret Brown look like contestants on The Bachelor with her loved-up Lucy Luckless." Aoife mocked from her place ahead, turning round to face her sister a happy taunt in her mind. " Now that is gross. " _Not to mention your nighttime activities._

Carmilla rolled her eyes. "They wrote beautiful poetry, Grow old with me! The best is yet to be." She smiled merrily.

" That is coming from a vampire. "Aoife scoffed. "But he also wrote don't forget Motherhood: All love begins and ends there ." Their mother certainly had cared nothing really for them, she'd used them as weapons and would have willingly sacrificed them for her greater goal.

Carmilla shrugged, her own full heart blissfully happy. "But what about the wise words, Take away love and our earth is a tomb."

"You idiot they took away our mother's love and look what happened to her, love is a pointless endeavor suited only to the weak minded who have no character to hold their own in a vast scary world," Aoife said knowingly, all love had ever done for her was to rip apart the fragile bonds that held her very soul together.

" Yeah I'm such an idiot every morning when I wake up it's in the arms of the woman I love, and every day she's there. " Carmilla smiled the expression lost in the tunnel they progressed down.

"Sounds like a punishment on repeat, waking up to Lacklustre Lachelle every day of your life." Aoife shivered. "Hey maybe we can find an Anglerfish for you instead, it would be an improvement on your current beau's dreary face."

" Her name is Laura! And I'm very happy to thank you. "

"Yeah, sure whatever."

" Err guys I'm loving this little rap of thing you got going on but we may have a little problem. " Danny interrupted pointing ahead of them as a group of Anglerfish grouped together.

Aoife smirked reaching back to grab her sword. "Excellent." Striding forward arrogantly. " Hey fish breath, come to Momma! "

In seconds she had launched herself down the tunnel pumping her legs then launching herself from the ground running up the wall and when she was close threw herself at the fish, straddling one and using it as a seat as it buckled and rushed around frantically while Aoife lashed and carved her way through the two other Anglerfish.

Danny and Carmilla watched in a stunned silent awe.

"She really is like Lara Croft," Carmilla whispered as Danny chuckled running to join in on the party.

 

Whipping out two daggers from her thigh holder throwing them at the head of the Anglerfish that approached her with its gross sharp teeth like jagged crooked fences.

It let out a pained squeal as the daggers hit their target with precision.

"He's gonna blow!" Aoife shouted as she plunged her sword deep into the Anglerfish she was riding, pulling it out and jumping from its head as Danny had thrown her own knife into the third fish, all three monsters wobbled and shook.

" Run I'm not getting covered in Anglerfish goo again! " Danny declared.

Together they ran Carmilla suddenly awaking from her momentarily hypnotized state, seeing her sister in full on action queen mode again was quite something to see, it reminded her just how in awe of her she had been.

A wild Irish soul rushing through life with her hair afloat and her eyes ablaze with fury, she was fearsome and strong, she was still it seemed able to render her speechless.

With Carmilla stood statue still in their path, to solve their problem Danny and Aoife picked her up each holding her by one arm and running as fast as they could, her legs clad in slim fitting leather pants dangled comically in the air.

"Put me down you two numbnuts!"

Aoife and Danny ignored her, instead, they kept running as suddenly an explosion sounded and small bits of fish scattered around the force sending them flying forward onto the ground, but happily not covered in Anglerfish goo.

From the mud Carmilla lifted her head up, what she'd gotten in the whole exercise was a free mud mask, she watched as Aoife and Danny laughed happily, exchanging a big huge and an enthusiastic high five as they congratulated themselves.

The vampire felt left out, once she had been the one who'd shared adventures with Aoife, now she was watching from the dirt as someone else took her role.

Dusting herself off she pulled herself to her feet. "Have you two finished?"

" Did you just see how awesome Aoife was? " Danny said enthusiastically. "She was freaking riding that thing!"

"Yeah sure, I'm in the presence of Xena and Lara."

" Three down. "

"No, four down." Danny corrected.

" Come on let's keep going, see if we can hunt anymore of the fishy bastards! " Aoife declared her sword raised in the air as she and Danny marched ahead with determination.

Carmilla rolled her eyes. "Yeah, why not.

 

Still running on a high from their success down the pit, eventually, with the help of LaFontaine's Anglerfish finder they'd managed to kill twenty, they'd emerged from the pit like action heroes.

At the house, Aoife had done her best to avoid Elle, and it had worked, she'd taken a small pleasure of letting her know just what she had planned for the evening.

_"Come on Danny don't be a bore, let's go and celebrate our day, I really need to get out of here," Aoife said enthusiastically._

_"Just a drink?"_

_" No way, I trashed twenty demon fish today, I want to release my pent-up frustration and celebrate, I am going to walk into that club and I'm not leaving until I find the perfect body for a moments distraction. " Aoife said with a smirk, as Elle walked past. "I'm tired of playing around with inexperienced children, I want a woman, it's been far too long."_

_Elle sagged against the wall, a sadness filling her again, she'd cleared this away Aoife had helped remove it but now it was seeping back and she could see it coming from the edge of the room, seeping through her like water through a net._

"Where are we going again?" Danny asked, drumming her fingers against the dashboard of Aoife's car earning her a warning glare from the older vampire. 

" We are going on what I believe they call the pull now, it's been way too long and I'm tired of waiting on an illusion and a stupid feeling. " Aoife dismissed.

"But I have a date, remember I told you, she's super hot and she's a doctor." She'd waited forever it seemed for someone she actually liked after everything that had happened with Laura and then dying and being turned into a vampire, things had become difficult. 

 

" You are going on a date, which means you are not dating. " Aoife replied coldly, she rolled her eyes when she noticed Danny's pout. "Fine just be my wing woman, and we're good."

" Aoife, I've been thinking whatever happened between you and Elle maybe it would be better to just talk about it. " 

"Nope, come on maybe I'll find myself a busty redhead," Aoife said with a smile but it didn't meet her eyes.

"Maybe we should just go get a drink instead."

" Danny, I learned a long time ago some people aren't meant for happily ever after, I learned I was one, so quit with your big sad empathetic eyes and help me score, as if I need any help have you seen me lately?" Aoife said, she hadn't but she imagined she was pretty hot, people told her she was, whether they were afraid or not. 

Danny sighed, she'd liked seeing the Aoife who smiled like she'd seen the sun and the moon in the same place at the same time, Danny was pretty sure that in Aoife's Sun and moon were, in fact, one in the same person.

"Come on let's go, don't worry we'll keep you pure for your Doctor." Aoife joked. 

 

Elle sat pouting at the table, she'd tried to read the magazine she'd found lying around, she had no interest in crossbows, why was there even a publication about such a boring and dangerous thing.

She felt for sure she knew who it belonged to though.

She'd tried to talk with Aoife but it hadn't worked, then when she'd gone back into their room, she had been true to her word and taken her things, why hadn't she waited and listened to her, wasn't she supposed to love her, yet she wouldn't listen to her. 

What did on the pull mean exactly? That was what she had been trying to work out for the last few hours, but whatever it was she was fairly certain that it was not good.

"You look happy."

" Come to gloat? " Elle asked stiffly as she tried to avoid watching the very annoying Elle walk further into the room, and sit down opposite her.

Laura bit her lip in thought. "Why would I gloat?"

" Because I was stupid, I believed when a vampire said she liked me again, will I never learn? " Elle said sadly.

"I see, and your vampire has gone to do what exactly?"

" She's not my vampire! " Elle rushed out.

Laura chuckled slightly, "You want her to be though, I can see it." It was plain for everyone to see, why Aoife had suddenly gone off on some rogue mission like this she had no idea, she seemed utterly besotted by Elle. " What happened? "

Elle sighed her shoulders sagging as she lowered her head, her eyes just barely looking up across at the other woman. "I said something and she took it the wrong way, or it would be better to say I didn't say something, and she didn't take it very well at all."

 

Elle had replayed that moment over in her head all day, she was still reeling from her onslaught of lonely sad childhood memories to fully comprehend everything and when she'd seen her sharp unnatural tooth shine under the glow of the moonlight it had brought everything back, even down to the feel of the teeth sinking into her neck, she shuddered at those awful dreams.

Laura rolled her eyes understanding everything. "And Aoife is just as sensitive as Carmilla, I get it, her sister is just the same, once I told her I didn't like her newish boots, she didn't speak to me for a week."

" So she's gone to find someone else. " Elle said defeated, the thought of someone else receiving Aoife's sweet kisses was too much, she hated it, loathed it.

Laura stood up suddenly, her breath catching in her throat at her excitement. "Come on we can sit here and do nothing or we can go and win back one stubborn vampire!"

" Really? "

"Yes, come on, we are going to a club."

Elle's eyes opened wide with stunned shock, she'd never been to one in her entire life, had such things even existed in 1872? "Are you sure?"

Laura nodded a firm determined smile cut across her lips. "Yes, we're going to get your vampire back!"

"But Aoife hates being told what to do," Elle said. 

Laura shrugged as though it were nothing. "So does Carm, but once I got her to wear a big red Christmas jumper with a grumpy cat on the front, I'm still here, come on let's go and make Aoife wear your embarrassingly awfully cute Christmas jumper."


	20. Vamps In The Club

Aoife tried to smile as best she could, her idea to come out and find someone, some people may be to release some tension had seemed good in her mind until she had entered the club and was now faced with that same old familiar feeling. 

Disinterest, they were too short or too tall, others smiled too much, others not enough, their skin wasn't quite as soft as the one she loved, their smell not so sweet and definitely not intoxicating in any way. 

The blonde she'd said her name but Aoife had long since forgotten it, she draped herself across her as though she were her possession, hands possessively moving over her thinking she was enticing and flirty, Aoife resisted the urge to just bit them off so she wouldn't have to endure the gross spectacle. 

Yet she needed to push herself on, she needed to purge the image out of her mind, the disgust she'd seen in Elle's eyes. 

Danny had long since given up being pushed and pulled around by the groupies that Aoife had attracted, instead she sat alone at the end of the bar, shaking her head every few moments at the sight, she knew Aoife was attractive, had even been smitten herself at first, but this was just crazy. 

The loud music pierced a hole through her eardrums as they entered the club dark except for the occasional flashing colorful light that moved around the large room.

Elle shifted on her feet as her eyes involuntarily began to move around the room, bodies moved along rhythmically to the music,

A hand landed on her shoulder as Laura came to stand next to her, her own eyes wondering around the room looking for the annoying vampire with an attitude the size of the cosmos.

"It's very loud." She shouted.

"No shit Sherlock." Carmilla sighed she had not wanted to come to a club and search for the sister who hated her so her ex could stop her from hooking up with some anonymous person.

 

"Stop being grumpy and look, you have better eyes than we do," Laura said distracted as her head bobbed around on the lookout for Aoife.

Carmilla rolled her eyes, she'd spotted Aoife the moment that she had entered, "She's over by the bar." She lifted her hand pointing across the room.

" Where, there is just a group of people. " Elle said standing on tiptoes to see, Laura joining her.

"Yeah, she's at the center of that group, Aoife has never had a problem attracting attention."

" There are guys there too, I thought your sister was Gay? " Laura said wishing she had a pair of binoculars so she could see them better.

Carmilla shrugged. "Aoife doesn't really do labels, she just says men are idiots and are more suited to small diversions when one is in need of release."

" That's oddly accurate. " Laura said.

"That's Aoife."

Elle watched as the two women dueled as the sea of people before Aoife parted and there revealed slowly she was, like a rising dark Goddess she smirked at the blonde who stood far too close to her, Elle ground her teeth angrily.

Laura turned to look at her girlfriend over Elle's head a knowing look in her eyes that screamed 'I told you so.'

Carmilla rolled her eyes, she would be hearing about this Laura triumph for a very long time, and she was not looking forward to it.

"So cupcake what do we do now?" Carmilla sighed.

" Easy, you go down there and tell her we are here. " Laura smiled.

Carmilla glared at her, what was she thinking coming up with an idea like that Aoife would probably bite her head off and use her skull as a cocktail glass. "You want me to go down there into the Lionesses den and come between her and her potential harem."

" Harem! " Elle panicked.

 

"Just go down there, and Elle and I will go and situate ourselves somewhere she can see us, the moment she realizes Elle is here in a place getting hit on she will be there quicker than Perry when she detects dust." Laura smiled confidently directing Elle over to a spot she had already selected, leaving Carmilla to begin her dangerous part in the charade.

"Terrific, I wanted to watch old horror flicks, instead I'm dicing with death with a vampire who hates me and who I saw ride Anglerfish just hours ago, my life is getting far too much like a Dali painting."

Resigned to her fate she sloppily made her way across the club dodging more than one drunk dancer as she pushed them aside with ease.

"I see you haven't lost your touch." She said seriously as she came to stand in front of her sister, having battled through her throng of admirers.

Aoife lost her smile as she turned away from the blonde. "What are you doing here? I don't remember inviting you."

Carmilla ignored her question. "Oh, nothing Elle wanted to get away from the house and I was more than willing to oblige."

Aoife glared at her, emitting a low feral growl. "How charming of you, and where is your little pet while you have brought your ex to a club?"

Carmilla rolled her eyes, sometimes she hated when Laura was right, she smirked at her sister. "It seems I'm a little more constant than you, can you tell your minions to get lost."

Aoife scowled at her. "You can all leave I'll catch up with you later." She said uninterested in them already, why did Elle have to be here? what was she doing?

 

"But baby you said you'd show us your party trick." The blonde pouted draping her arms around Aoife's neck, the green-eyed woman moved away her heart hadn't been in it anyway,

" Maybe later Kelly. "

"My name is Jenna."

" Oh, yeah sorry, bye. " Aoife dismissed easily as Jenna and her Aoife groupies skulked away.

Carmilla smirked and waved them away. "Bye bye now."

" What are you doing here you little skunk and what are you doing with Elle? " Aoife demanded as she jumped from her stool her cool act disappearing quickly now they were left alone.

"That's not very nice, I'm simply here because as I said she wanted to get out of the house, LaFontaine was following her around taking notes asking her all about beyond the veil, so here we are." Carmilla smiled turning to motion with her arm to across the room where Laura and Elle stood.

Aoife followed her hand her eyes meeting the figure of Elle as she stood against a table a smile curving across her lovely mouth as she shyly looked down as an unknown man stood between Elle and Laura. "It seems she has found someone to keep her company, thanks for scaring mine away."

"You are so full of shit." Carmilla spat out.

" Excuse me! "

"What happened to the century-old unrequited love Aoife? was it just fun when she wasn't into you when she suddenly reciprocated you lose interest."

Aoife frowned, Carmilla would never even come close to understanding what she had felt, the experience of being belittled by her was not something that Aoife enjoyed. "You know nothing, Mircalla, move along kitty cat."

 

"I think I want to stay right here and watch your face as that guy over there gets even closer to her, do you think Elle would like that?" Carmilla smirked. 

Aoife pursed her lips. "No, she fucking would not!" Her words coming out as a muffled growl that she did nothing to avoid, There was no way she was going to allow that to happen, who was this idiot anyway thinking he could stand there and sweet talk the woman she loved? On instinct, she pushed past Carmilla ignoring her laughter as her determined unimpressed pissed off glare was aimed fully at this one man. 

Carmilla rolled her eyes. "Yep, predictable, but at least I'm not dead." 

 

"Hey Charlie Brown it's time for your bedtime, get lost," Aoife said sternly, the young man who had been enchanted at first sight by Elle turned around letting out an annoyed huff. 

"Excuse me we are talking, you are very rude." 

Aoife raised an eyebrow, "Oh honey you really have no idea how rude I can get, now if you don't want me to redecorate in her using your entrails you will piss off now before I lose my patience." 

Laura saw the seriousness in her eyes jumped in between them, although Matthew apparently did not, he was too busy smirking at the words, who did this crazy woman think she was Indiana Jones? "Hey, Aoife how about you blink a few times, and Matt is it, a lovely name you should really go."

"But I'm talking." He protested finally moving so that Aoife could finally see Elle, she'd been blocked by the big lump. 

"And if you stay I will make it so it will be impossible for you to speak ever again, how painful do you think it would be if I cut out your tongue cheese boy?" 

"Cheese boy, listen lady..." 

Elle rolled her eyes, she was tired of this, tired of being an object fought over left dumped in the background, she pushed him aside trying to rein in her frustration. "Just go." I came here for her not you, I don't want you ruining everything. "I need to talk with her." She's in trouble. 

 

Aoife turned a smug smirk on him as he sighed, stomping away like a three-year-old denied their favorite toy. 

"I'm going to go over there with Carmilla, she and Danny look like they are battling again," Laura said as she walked towards the two warring vampires, things had gotten a lot worse since Aoife had come between them and Carmilla realized she had been replaced by Danny. 

"Good luck with that," Aoife said sarcastically. 

Elle frowned. "You can shut up, you are in trouble."

Again Aoife found her eyebrow-raising up high on her forehead. "Oh, am I indeed."

"Yes, you are, coming here looking for women." 

"You rejected me, I was merely finding my own source of entertainment as I clearly wasn't getting any from you." Aoife shrugged, she didn't need Elle to see how hurt she had been. 

"Oh, shut up with your cold act!"

"Excuse me!" 

"You heard me, you took what I said to heart on purpose."

"That you were repulsed by me." Aoife huffed. 

Elle rolled her eyes, was this women for real? "I slept every night in your arms, which part of that was being repulsed by you Ms. Drugain? every time you smiled at me I felt my whole being just melt away, seeing them, those sharp instruments just for a moment took me back to a time that still terrifies me."

"I'd never hurt you," Aoife whispered. 

"You came here to have sex with another woman and you thought that was looking after me and not hurting me?" Elle asked, the first time she had ever said the word sex out loud, she was certain she didn't want to say it again for a long while in the future. 

Aoife lowered her head, "I wanted to hurt you the way you hurt me, but...oh come on just look at them how the hell can anyone ever hope to compare to you? You are the sun, a blazing bright ethereal object that brights up the whole world and they are just dull dying stars, exhausted and tired soon to expire." 

"You didn't with any of them did you?" Elle asked, the idea hurting more than she would have liked, the image of anyone touching the woman who had begun to shine like the first rays of sunshine of a cloudy day made her stomach turn and shake. 

"No, none of them." 

Elle let out a brief of relief, as she moved closer, the image of that blonde woman running her hands over her imprinted in her brain, she lifted her own hand and with delicate fingers moved along the edge of her cleavage boldly, she would never have done this a few days ago, but with Aoife she felt she could be bold and brave. "I don't like when others touch you, I didn't like seeing that, I want you all for myself."

Aoife swallowed hard. "I'm yours." _You have no idea for how long I have been yours._

 

"Good." Elle smiled. "Because I don't like to share." 

"Hey, you lady!" An angry voice called from behind Aoife, annoyed she turned around to find herself face to face with a very angry guy with a full on bushy brown beard. 

"I'm sorry I didn't realize I would be addressing Abraham Lincoln tonight, may I say sir I admire your taking credit for freeing the slaves, very well done there,." She leaned back to Elle. "I',m being sarcastic there."

Elle smiled. 

"Shut up bitch, my boy here said you disrespected him." He pointed to the man from a few moments ago. 

Aoife arched an eyebrow. "I take issue with that term Abe."

"I take issue with you disrespect my boy." 

"Your boy, oh dear me I'm terribly sorry I seem to have insulted your little drummer boy, I'm eternally shocked and stunned by my own grotesque behavior." Aoife mocked. 

"You sure are annoying me lady." He growled. 

"You also need a mint."

He'd had enough, no one came into his territory and attacked any member of his gang no matter who they were, drawing his arm back he launched it at her, only for halfway through the air it to be stopped by a harsh solid force, Aoife's hand. 

Aoife ground her teeth angrily. "You are lucky I am here with my girlfriend, otherwise I'd rip you in two and leave you outside for the wolves to feast on your twitching remains." 

The bearded man moved his head to see Elle, he smirked. "What that stuck up hoe behind you?"

Aoife pursed her lips, clenching her fists in her hands, she turned around to face Elle. "I'm sorry about this, but this guy is a massive douche and no one talks about you like that." Then without waiting for a reply, she faced him again, not fazed by his far bigger size, she smiled devilishly. "Ade, you've truly picked on the wrong woman." As she smiled she let her sharp fangs slid down, it was no accident this time, she enjoyed seeing their eyes narrow and then fill with the realization of what was happening, she clenched his hand harder in hers the sound of bones crunching and grinding echoed all around them as his shouts and screams for mercy rang out. 

Across the room Carmilla, Laura watched and Danny, Laura with a look of utter mortification on her face while Carmilla rolled her eyes, Danny smiled happily as she drank from her glass. "He must deserve it." She shrugged. 

They watched as Elle backed away to safety as gang members piled in for a fight, their fear of a vampire clearly not as great as the wrath of their leader if they let him be attacked anymore, so the crowd grew thicker and more intense. 

Laura turned to her girlfriend concerned. "Carm do something?"

"What the hell do you want me to do, cupcake, it's Aoife this is normal." 

 

"What?"

Carmilla shrugged. "Yeah, we were in so many bar fights I've lost count and Aoife is used to being vastly outnumbered, she gets a kick out of it think, and Danny is right I'm afraid to say, he probably deserved it."

Suddenly they watched as Aiofe rose from the crowd lifting the burly gang member above her head and with barely a screech threw him into the tables and chairs. 

"Carm, please."

Carmilla rolled her eyes. "Fine, looks like we're going to get into another bar fight, it's been a while I'm a little rusty." She cracked her knuckles together as she rushed into the crowd to relive old times and kick some butt, it was a shame her sister wouldn't appreciate it in the end.


	21. Starry Skies

The club roared with life as people scurried to find a safe sanctuary away from the chaos.

Elle watched in stunned awe as Aoife danced through the crowd, fists raised in front of her as she slammed them into one face and then another, her legs kicking high up into the air like a badass prima ballerina sending each body flying.

 

Her long raven hair flying around her head acted as a weapon on its own as it flew into the eyes of potential attackers out of the sight of her vision.

Aoife lifted the large man above her head as though he were a doll, it had been a hell of a long time since she had indulged in such an activity, a very long time ago if she had to give a date it would have to have been January 16th, 1868 at a small pub in Londonderry, a small band of English soldiers had decided to drunkenly harass to landlords rather busty and very attractive daughters, Siobhan and Aisling O'Hara, it just so happened that Aoife was at the time engaged in a delightful but brief love affair with Siobhan.

She'd not left a single English soldier alive that night, she'd literally used their blood to paint the alley walls, her mother had been so angry with her she had banished her to a remote part of Canada, to build an academy there, with more people emigrating there and the population growth it was seen as a good plan, it had been so long ago she'd almost forgotten she was capable of such a thing.

She had been pulled from her success in Canada to do her sisterly act for Carmilla in 1872, suddenly then after meeting Elle busty barmaids had not seemed so alluring, no one had.

A brief glimpse of Carmilla as her head bobbed up and down the crowd, as she dodged and parried with one attacker to the next.

Danny had long since jumped into the chaos towering over everyone stamping like a giant like warriors charging at a group of knuckleheads with a zero IQ.

The culprit who started the whole affair was passed out on the floor, his hand a twisted mess of broken bones and ugly redness, it had served his own good, he shouldn't have been so rude to Elle.

His 'little boy' was cowering in the corner his hands over his head willing the whole thing to go away, he was beginning to wish that he'd never ever seen the enchanting sweet woman, she apparently preferred evil vampires who were totally crazy.

Police sirens sounded piercing the air with a shrill echo, Aoife halted her fist just before it connected with a random guys face, she smirked. "You're lucky, I can't afford the bad publicity of being arrested, my shareholders would have a fit."

Swiftly she moved away and before Elle could blink she was standing before her, an energized smile on her face.

"Come on!"

 

"Wha. "

Aoife cut her off lifting her into her arms like she was Supergirl saving her Lena Luthor, and fleeing the club before the police raided the club leaving Danny, Carmilla and Laura behind.

Laura pursed her lips, standing at her place behind the bar where she had been pushed back to avoid the falling bodies and flying glass, her hands on her hips. "Well, that's the last time I play cupid."

 

With a wicked laugh, Aoife finally let Elle slip from her arms helping her land on her feet, Elle finding the laughter infectious she found herself laughing along, the sight of Aoife smiling again with her was such a welcome balm that she felt her heart warm up at the sight.

Pushing her against the door of the car Aoife pushed herself against her, crushing her lips to Elle's harshly molding her hands to her hips as Elle pulled her closer, it may have only been a few hours since their little misunderstanding but it had seemed like a lifetime.

Smiling through the kiss Aoife contemplated moving, but she liked being this close to Elle, liked the feel of her lips against her own.

"Come on, get in I know a place," Aoife said finally moving away, opening the door for her to get in and rushing around to the driver's side.

Elle smiled across at her as she closed the door. "Where are we going?"

" You'll see. "

"Where did you learn to do all of that?" Elle asked finally as they drove away.

 

Aoife laughed. "Well you already know my father started me early, but back then in Western Europe martial arts weren't a thing, not anything that helped anyway, and boxing was never my thing, so when I faced the fact that my country was lost I left the horror and headed to Europe in Italy I came across a progressive fencing school I enrolled sharpened up my game a lot but not enough I needed something in case I ever lost my sword or daggers so in 1656 I found myself in China and at a Shaolin monastery their technique I was captivated by so I paid them handsomely to train me in the art and over the years I've just topped up my knowledge to make sure I'm always on top."

Elle nodded impressed and stunned by her tale. "You really did that?"

" I did. "

"On your own?" Elle asked she wanted to know more about the mysterious woman.

Aoife nodded her head. "Yep, all alone. "

"Did you, I mean that was before Carmilla," Elle asked cautiously.

Aoife gripped the steering wheel tighter. "Yes, it was before her."

" She said you were close, I remember back then she would talk about you all the time, Aoife says this, Aoife does that and then you came. " Elle said shyly, remembering the day she'd come, the day she'd first met the imposing woman. "You scared me."

Aoife frowned her eyes set on the road. " You captivated me. " Her voice hoarse with the effort it took to reveal even a small fraction of the truth. 

"What!" Elle turned her head quickly towards Aoife, why she was so shocked she didn't know she'd overheard Aoife's conversation with Carmilla, yet hearing something like this from her was mind-blowing.

"You didn't know, I scared you, but you scared me."

Aoife's honest omission left Elle speechless, how was it possible that she could have frightened someone like Aoife, she'd just seen her trash a whole bar, take on and easily beat a gang of big guys, yet it was Elle who made her feel scared. "You should have told me I would have felt more empowered."

" Oh no, there was never any intention to tell you. "

"Why?"

Aoife turned to face her for a split second before turning her head back to the road ahead. "You were in love with Carmilla."

" Oh. " Elle whispered under her breath, the fierce vampire had some morality, but she'd seen that she'd seen it in the way she was towards her.

 

Parking the car randomly on the patch of shadowy green grass Aoife pushed open her door the night air met her as she emerged outside, smiling over the roof of the car as she saw Elle too had exited.

"What do you think?" Aoife asked intrigued.

 

Elle gasped as she took in the view before her, vast hidden mountains sprouted out of the earth covered only slightly by the dark, as their reflection gazed down onto a great big lake, that acted as an illuminated shimmering mirror for the vast stars that scattered across the night's sky.

In the distance, acting as a voyeur a castle stood in the shadow of a full moon, cutting out a vast amount of light it gave off.

"This is beautiful."

Aoife smiled moving around the car holding her hand out for Elle to take when she happily placed her hand in Aoife's, she led the way pulling Elle along.

Elle chuckled. "Where are you taking me?" Allowing herself to be pulled along until suddenly Aoife stopped and Elle bumped into her.

Quickly Aoife turned around and caught her, her hands held onto Elle's hips. "The nearest Styria has to offer in regards to a heaven."

"It's certainly mesmerizing." Elle agreed.

Aoife took a moment to observe her face, the soft glow of the moon reflecting off the water basking across her face. "Yet it still pales in comparison to you."

" You always know what to say. " Elle whispered, her cheeks blushing under the vampire's attention.

"Not always, come on." Taking her hand again she led her closer to the edge of the lake when she was a safe distance away yet just close enough that they could feel the slight breeze coming from the water.

Placing a blanket she always kept in the back of her car, they sat on top of it and for a few moments sat in silence, their hands still entwined.

Elle turned her attention away from the scene in front of them and turned to face Aoife, watching her profile, her cheekbones that sloped at just the right moment, long eyelashes that hit her soft skin whenever she blinked.

"Are you planning on watching me all night?" Aoife laughed.

" Maybe, I think it would ensure I had sweet dreams. " Elle replied without thinking.

"Now who is the one who knows just what to say?" Aoife smiled moving closer, letting her little finger play along with the side of Elle's hand.

Leaning into her Aoife let her lips brush the outside shell of her ear as she whispered. "Can I kiss you?"

Elle only nodded, there was an emotion in Aoife's voice she couldn't name, it held an intention and she was too affected to speak.

Aoife placed gentle kisses down her neck, eliciting a moan of approval from the woman as she melted into her arms, traveling kisses along her jaw until finally, their lips met.

Elle's hands came round Aoife's head, her fingers laced through her long flowing hair as she held her in place, where she wanted her, so close that all she could feel was Aoife, her whole chest hurt as her heart beat faster, pounding against her chest with her nearness. 

 

Her heart wanted her to continue but her head, the rational part that still worked told her to be careful, she wasn't ready for what she was sure Aoife intended, even if that wild part of her wanted it to, she gently pushed Aoife away from her, settling her forehead against the vampire who in a hypnotic trance studied her face, her lips swollen from their intense kisses. 

Aoife smiled then, moving a stray lock of hair that fell over Elle's face, "Come on, let's study the stars, lay back down so we are looking up at the sky."

Elle watched as Aoife pushed them both down, keeping a hold of her hand as she did it, snuggling closer to her. 

"You really want to watch the stars?" Elle asked. 

"We forget as we are going about our lives in a bustle, to look up, the stars are truly the most beautiful view we have, and yet we never truly see them," Aoife said mystically. 

"Time passes by I imagine." Elle mused. 

Aoife turned towards her, a smirk over her lips. "Time my love is irrelevant it's an illusion invented by man to keep us, slaves, emotions are above such human confines, they are Timeless and eternal, just like the stars above us." 

"You know that is something Carmilla would say?" Elle laughed. 

Aoife raised an eyebrow in reply. "And who do you think Taught her?"


	22. Reflections

May 25th, 1581, Glenmalure, Wicklow, Ireland

_Gentle whispers of the bold thunder were answered by the single quick caress of the lightning as together they filled the night sky with their violent lovemaking._

_Sat by the window in an old rickety chair Aoife felt her head bow down in contemplation, she'd watched the men who 's stirred up a frenzy of patriotism among the chieftains of Ireland accept a peace agreement with the English, they who had called her father weak and a fool to force him into the fray and ultimately lead to his violent death alongside her brothers, were now reaping the rewards of biting the hand of every man, woman and child who had been tortured, raped and murdered at the hands of their evil invaders._

_Aoife had felt sick to her stomach at the very knowledge, and soon she'd set into motion her own plans for revenge, plenty had fallen in line with the vengeful Vampire Drugain chief, not just from fear of what she would do to them if they did not agree, but because they too wanted revenge._

_She'd reflected on her year since her death, lost in her own fog of disillusionment he failed to sense the presence approaching behind her, until she felt two hands on her shoulder, caressing downwards to the tops of her breasts and then back up again massaging the muscles in her neck and shoulder._

_Soft lips trailed down the nape of her exposed neck eliciting a moan of approval, before her death she had been no stranger to desires of the flesh but in the face of such dark times, Aoife had thrown herself headlong into the arms of sexual pleasures._

_Her country was dying, their culture being torn and ripped away the people raped and murdered and if she could use her newly found powers for something it had to be to free her people, because once grasped in the old wrinkly clammy hand of the English Queen then she knew they would be lost, just as had happened to the Scots and the Welsh._

_Tomorrow was to be her response to the treaty, the forgiveness of the 'troublemakers' by the forever gallant and blessed English government, and she wanted blood, she would ensure that the green fields run red with the blood of anyone who dared to meet her blade._

_It had been her great triumph luring away the wife of Sir Thomas Butler, Earl of Ormond, it had taken very little effort, Elizabeth had only too gladly been seduced. That was the trouble when an older man marrying a younger woman, her grandfather had warned against such things, a man he said should in the event of finding himself in such a situation sleep with one eye open and watch behind him always, lest he find his young lovely wife lured away her frail weak nature meant she was only too easy to turn, he'd never spoken of what a wife should do in the inevitable situation when her husband began looking elsewhere, that he had said was the condition of man, and when he found his wife lacking he quite rightly would find a more pleasing vessel for his seed._

_As a young child she'd found his words distasteful, she'd hated him almost at once, for a man who had married twice and had fathered eight daughters he had a very low opinion of women, but then most men of her time did._

_When Aoife had begun with sweetness and deep husky words of seduction, soft trails of her fingers in places where only a husband should roam, Elizabeth had been quite lost._

_Swiftly Aoife rose from her chair and in seconds hovered over the woman her chest raising harshly as she struggled her control her breathing, the intense look in the Vampire 's effervescent green eyes acting like a spell to bind her and render her motionless._

_Elizabeth's brown eyes widened as Aoife released a smirk, arrogance spilling from every core of her being the sight of Elizabeth's reddish-brown hair falling down around her head and spilling over the sides of the table willingly surrendering to her, pleased and excited Aoife more than she could describe._

_The naked flesh of her skin so silky and innocent illuminated only by the occasional light of the lightning through the window, the sight of plush voluptuous breasts rising and falling with her deep intakes of breath almost make her mouth water with desire, temptation growing too much Aoife buried her face between them, so deep that Elizabeth could feel the moisture from her breath dampening her flesh, her thumbs rubbing her nipples slowly, hypocritically._

_Spoils of war won fairly and without force always tasted the best, fitting herself more firmly between Elizabeth's legs the woman wrapped them around Aoife's waist pulling her nearer, as she licked and kissed her way, Aoife slowly moved her hands downward, skimming each side of Elizabeth's body, her face pressed between her thighs._

_"Open wider for me." She breathed and Elizabeth's head fell back against the table. Kissing her mound she licked along the slick folds and teased her erect clit._

_Elizabeth groaned as Aoife slipped two fingers inside of her and began to fuck her. with her tongue, she sucked on her clit, bringing her teetering off the edge and spiraling out of control almost instantly._

_"Oh Goodness." Elizabeth shrieked, bracing herself on the table her hands grasping at the cold hardwood as Aoife removed her fingers, licking and sucking still until she came a second time._

_Aoife smirked against her the memory of Sorcha teaching her such things were still fresh in her mind, she had proved to be a very good teacher and Aoife had been a very willing and eager pupil. "You are too easy." She teased._

_Elizabeth smiled her smitten lost look of devotion ruined Aoife's high, her own empty vengeful hate-filled heart had no room for love, that was gone, Niamph was married and to a Butler._

_Aoife coldly removed herself away from the spent woman, Elizabeth may feel some sort of love for her but she didn't feel the same, she had no time for affection not in this war._

_"Aoife what's wrong?" She asked concerned._

_" Nothing, I realized the time I have no time for sex or whispering sweet nothings into your ear. " She dismissed coldly. "I have to make men pay for their disloyalty."_

_Elizabeth sat up reaching for a blanket to put around her shoulders. "You won't do anything rash will you Aoife? I don't want you to get hurt." Her sweet English accent asked softly._

_Aoife found her attention taken by the play of flames in the open fire, smoke dancing upward. "I will make sure all of Ireland can swim in the rivers of blood I will leave tomorrow, I will ravage the English army and terrify the masses, make them shiver in their manly boots and wet their undergarments, and pray that they were again babies suckling at the sagging breasts of their mothers, I will leave no man unscathed they are all mine for daring to try and take what was never theirs and what lives so vibrantly in the hearts of us!"_

 

Aoife stared up at the top of the bed, she'd done what she had promised, but it had made no difference her lands were gone and her people lost, she'd left Ireland but she still heard the gentle Gaelic lull of her mother's sweet song calling to her, and she knew she needed to see her home again, feel the earth beneath her feet and bask in the Irish sunshine.

She looked down at the small body attached lovingly to her own, Elle's arms wrapped around her, her head rested safely on her chest, that was how she had fallen asleep hours ago and Aoife had not found the heart to wake her, or even just to move her.

The feel of her heart beat against her made her feel alive, really alive, she understood why Elle wasn't ready for anything truly physical yet but it was still torture to wait, she would and would do it without protest but it still hurt.

She'd only seen Elizabeth once after that night, that had been a few days after the battle as she'd watched from a distance Thomas Butler as the Lord of his manor, she'd returned to her husband, she'd been the sweet English woman who had thought she'd found affection, without remembering that dark creatures bore no time for love and she lived in a time when women of any kind could scarcely afford such a luxury.

Elizabeth had died in 1600 aged only thirty-seven years old, she'd not known for some years, no one had seemed to care when a woman died.

It made Elle all the more peculiar, why had she after one look, after one awkward shy smile had she fallen so utterly and undeniably in love with her?

She felt Elle's hand move across her chest in her sleep testing the softness around her and sighing blessed in her sleep to have found such a comfy place to rest, it was something that while awake she would never have done.

Aoife smiled placing her hand over that very hand softly caressing the softness of her skin, revealing in everything that was Elle Sheridan.

They'd stayed so long by the lake that they'd forgotten that they had to leave, when Aoife had looked across and seen that Elle had begun to shiver but in her need to want to stay in the moment she had been reluctant to say anything, when Aoife had held her close the woman had felt like ice, she'd wasted no time then bundling her into the car and returning to the house. 

At least it was warmer than being out in the open. 

"You should be asleep too." A small tired voice said. "You have another day down that hell hole." 

 

Aoife smiled. "You were snoring enough for both of us."

Elle gasped loudly slapping her gently with her hand in mock outrage. "I do not snore, take it all back."

"Maybe you should make me." Aoife teased. 

Elle chuckled loudly, making the bed bounce as she shifted to lay fully over the accusing vampire who laughed as she was poked and prodded, "How dare you accuse me of being a snorer!" 

Aoife laughed harder as Elle's ministrations turned into an outright tickle war, and although she was vastly stronger and could have ended her attack in moments she had ben wish to do so, there was something about being with Elle in these kind of moments that made her feel almost alive again, as though it was possible and her heart could beat if only Elle wished it to, or brought her back to life with a touch. 

"Okay, okay I give in you don't snore." Aoife surrendered her mouth stretched so wide in a laugh that it ached. 

"Really and truly?" Elle asked digging her fingers even more into Aoife's flesh eliciting more squeals of laughter from her. 

"Yes, I'm sure." 

Elle smiled brightly, even in the darkened room it shone a light on everything around her. "Good now you can have a reward." She leaned in slowly and placed her lips onto Aoife's releasing a  moan as Aoife placed her hands on her lower back, just above her bottom her fingers moving dangerously close. 

When she pulled away reluctantly Aoife smiled, "If that is the kind of rewards I get, I would have been good a long time ago."


	23. Anglerfish Bait

The downside of there being only one living room that was workable and comfortable in the whole house was it meant that it became pretty crowded and was nowhere near private.

Still, despite their companions, Aoife and Elle sat on the couch closely Elle had picked up a magazine and together they were making fun of all the 'celebrities' that adorned the pages of the fluff magazine filled with over pampered drools they called 'famous' and 'talented'.

"No way." Elle laughed again.

" It's true, I was there I know. " Aoife nodded affirming her statement much to Elle's amusement. "I saw her do it."

" Who would do that? " Elle questioned.

"Marlene Dietrich would, that woman was afraid of nothing and no one." Aoife smiled when she saw Elle pout, a jealous spark in her eyes, that for some reason made Aoife happy. Moving closer mindless of the audience they had and the burning glare of a very unhappy vampire who sat with her legs thrown over a chair, Aoife kissed her cheek, moving her mouth down to her ear. "Don't be sulky she wasn't my type."

 _I'm her type._  Elle felt her face redden at the sudden thought, but it was true, and she liked the feeling that the knowledge brought.

"Could you two take it outside," Carmilla asked sarcastically her dark eyes glaring at the two in front of her.

Aoife scoffed. "That's rich coming from you."

Elle tried to get Aoife to be quiet and not continue on the path she was but Carmilla looked like she was ready to challenge her sister and Elle knew Aoife well enough to know she wasn't going to back down.

"What the frigging hell is that supposed to mean?" Carmilla challenged.

Aoife laughed. "your swearing is as excellent as ever, what I mean is we have the bedroom next to you and the walls are paper thin, so if you could put a mute button on Lucy Loudly that would be greatly appreciated."

" Her name is Laura. " Carmilla sighed she was really glad she hadn't kept a count on how many times she had needed to remind her of that fact.

"I don't know why I keep forgetting that," Aoife said with a laugh as she turned to Elle, sharing a joke that familiar feeling of feeling left out hit Camilla again.

"Your just forgetful, you are showing your age." Elle joked at her.

Aoife lunged towards her digging her fingers into her flesh as she tickled her without mercy, "Take it back!"

"No..." Elle laughed hysterically too weak to do anything but let her limbs frail around as though they had a mind of their own.

"You should because I can do this all day," Aoife said with a sinister laugh.

The door burst open and with a pair of science goggles perched haphazardly on their forehead, hair cast aside to.make way for the intruder LaFontaine bounced in carrying a strange box type device in their hands. "Okay, I'm about to make your lives easier in the hunt for the Anglerfish." They boomed out excitedly as everyone turned to watch them.

" And what do you have there Santa Claus? " Carmilla said sarcastically, she was ignoring or trying to ignore the fact that Danny had just gone to sit next to Aoife and Elle was holding Aoife's hand possessively in her hand.

Another reminder she'd been replaced and the relationship she had with the distant vampire was now long gone.

"This is a bait trap." LaFontaine said placing the box down on the table as everyone gathered around it, "Inside here we place the shrimp, and this bit here amplifies the scent."

" Wait they eat Shrimp? " Kirsch asked as he made his way into the room from the hall.

"I googled it, shrimp or Algae, so we give them what they love and then lure them to us." LaFontaine  "What did you think they ate?"

Kirsch shrugged. "Well there is no water down there, so where did the shrimp come from?"

" He's got a point. " Carmilla chuckled slightly.

"Laf is probably going on the instinct to eat the food that a seaborn Anglerfish would eat," Aoife said seriously, it was pretty obvious that was what they were going for.

" Exactly. " They smiled agreeing. "So when you go I'm going too and we're trying this."

" Wait the nutty professor gets to go down but I don't. " Mel pouted.

"No cause if everyone is in the pit who the hell is going to pull us out?" Carmilla shrugged, why wasn't that obvious, they couldn't stay in the pit indefinitely just hoping someone would come across a sign they'd pinned to a tree to save them.

"You stay out and I will take your place." Mel shrugged.

"Do you possess a superhuman strength?" Aoife asked her.

" No. " Mel replied but she knew she didn't need that bullshit, she had Gertrude.

"And can you move as fast as lightning?" Aoife continued an old familiar sense of overprotectiveness kicking in that she found herself unable to resist. " What else can you do? " She turned to face her sister.

Carmilla hesitated, she really did not want to bring up what else she could do, it was going to bring up so many things. "Err...set things on fire."

Elle frowned at her with displeasure.

"See she can set fire to things, so until you can do all of those things it will be us and you will wait to pull us out," Aoife said firmly, the room silent for a moment as everyone who was in the room watched her, this was the closest to a compliment for Carmilla she had come.

Carmilla felt a lump in her throat as her rigid defense of her warmed her soul.

Suddenly aware of her actions and the attention it had gathered especially seeing the look on Carmilla's face Aoife coughed to clear her throat. "As much as I would love to replace you with her so I didn't have to deal with her winging, I'm afraid I'm stuck with her."

Carmilla rolled her eyes, of course, it had been too good to be true. "Screw you I'm the one stuck down there with Lara Croft and Xena Warrior Princess." She motioned to the two vampires sitting next to each other, where the hell was Laura so she could have someone to sit by and feel less lonely.

Elle breathed a welcome sigh of relief as she felt the tug on the end of the rope, it had been hours since they had gone down she had experienced this a few times now but it never got any easier, dark thoughts and possibilities popped in to her mind and she just wanted to see Aoife emerge from the hole in the ground to know she was okay.

So she could feel herself relax and she could let out a breath she knew she had been holding since she had descended down there.

Now she was coming back up, she could smile again.

Finally, they were pulled up the stench that followed them was so pungent that it burned their nostrils.

Aoife grimaced as she felt the goo slid down her skin, her face filled with a thunderous anger that was directed straight at Carmilla. "The next time you damn well do as I say!"

Carmilla let out a loud grunt. "I felt like a spare part down there!" She had to stand and watch again as Aoife and Danny made her watch. "I had to do something." She said angrily as Laura pinched her nose with her hand the smell was too intense.

Mel watched them all curious, they'd found themselves in this situation before but it had never been this much before. She wiped some of the sticky smelly goo from Danny's arm rubbing it between her thumb and finger to get a feel of the texture. "What the hell happened to you?"

"My Anglerfish trap worked!" LaFontaine said happily wiping goo from their eyes but it couldn't dampen their happiness at this moment.

"A little too well." Danny eyed her knowingly.

" It still worked. " They shrugged.

Aoife ground her teeth angrily. "We were surrounded by so many of them we made our plan but Little Miss I don't listen to plans over there decided she was going to do her own thing, we had to stay longer because she was trapped in the middle of a whole herd of vibrating Anglerfish just waiting to blow, needless to say, we did not make it out cleanly."

"It was you who insisted on carrying me out Lara!" Carmilla spat back defiantly.

Aoife felt her blood raging. "Because you fell over you absolute bell end!"

" Hey! "

Laura came between the two sparing sisters. "Okay, I don't know what a bell end is but I can imagine it's not very nice, let's just get out of here and get you all cleaned up."

"I hope the smell doesn't stick I have a date to worry about," Danny said afraid that this time their skin would absorb the stench almost like as though they'd been attacked by a skunk.

Elle moved closer to Aoife even covered from head to toe in grotesque drool she was a sight for sore eyes.

"Don't come near me I'm gross," Aoife told her holding her hand out to stop her, internally blaming Carmilla for her gross appearance that meant she couldn't do as she wanted to do and take Elle into her arms and kiss her. 

Elle felt disappointment fill her, "Oh, okay."

Elle snuck her head around the door, Aoife had been up here for a long time she must have finished her bath by now.

When they had found old bathtubs that the family had used to bath in front of the warm fires in their bedchambers Aoife had snatched one up, she didn't want to have to wait any longer in an Anglerfish insides overcoat.

The tub sat empty in the middle of the room taking a deep sigh of relief Elle walked into the room closing the door behind her, time with Aoife was special it was like experiencing all the greatest kinds of euphoria all together at once and feeling everything bubble away inside her.

Soft footsteps stepped from behind the open closet door that she had not noticed, her eyes grew wide as her whole body froze and her mouth gasped open wide.

Aoife wearing nothing but her birthday suit stepped from behind the safety of the door and out into the open mindless of the audience she now had.

Elle's eyes traveled up and down the naked body, Aoife's pale skin marred with red rashes from the hot water that covered certain parts of her body. Her sculpted bare shoulders soft and creamy took her vision down to two pert firm luscious breasts that despite being over five hundred years old still defied gravity.

Aoife planted her hands on her hips confidently. "Err hello Ms. Sheridan my eyes are up here."

Elle opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out, she closed her mouth to try again but still nothing happened.

"Are you okay?" Aoife asked innocently mindless of her own undressed state.

"Err...." Elle felt her reason leave her as she tried not to look, yet her eyes moved on their own taking in every inch of her even down to two perfectly pedicured feet.

"I have to tell you it's considered rude to stare especially if the other person is naked."

" Oh, yeah err...I'm sorry. " Elle replied flustered as she covered her eyes quickly, she'd already gotten enough of a view that it was imprinted in her mind, she now knew what Aoife Drugain looked like naked and she was fairly certain that it would be something that haunted her in her sleep.

Aoife smiled at the sweet woman. "You can look you know, I was joking."

" Err no I'm okay. "  _I've already seen too much._

Aoife laughed to herself as she reached for her silky nightgown slipping into its softness and tying the belt around her. "It's really safe to look now."

Elle peered between her fingers disappointed when she saw Aoife was now covered.

Aoife smirked, it was good to know she hadn't lost any of her attractiveness. "So bashful what are your plans for the evening?"

Elle blinked rapidly trying to remember even her own name as Aoife shrugged and moved about as though nothing had happened. "I just want to be with you."


	24. Gothic Dreams

_Elle groaned stirring awake her eyes opened reluctantly, wiping her hands across her eyes, a massive yawn taking up her face._

_After a few moments she looked around her, it took a few moments to gather her bearings, realizing that she was no longer in her bedroom, she wasn't in her bed, and as she looked_ _Aoife_ _was nowhere to be found._

_The cold grey stones of the walls dominated the room, making it look uncomfortable and unfriendly. strange old furniture scattered around the room, small narrow windows with no glass were carved into the walls of the unsophisticated walls._

_"Where am I?" She asked herself quietly, rising to sit on the uncomfortable bed, her eyes darting around her trying to figure out where she was._

_Suddenly a loud rush of cries and shouts began, metals clashed together, a cold chill ran down her spine at the sound, an ominous feeling gripping her._

**"Ee-fa!"** _A deep guttural voice shouted cutting through the carnage of the atmosphere, his words ended with a choke that Elle gasped loudly, why did it sound so final?_

_A thick sickening stench of blood twisted and danced merrily through the air, finding her courage Elle stood up and ran to the narrow windows peering outside her eyes grew wide at the sight, red blood filled a once green field as men lay dying and dead on the ground as others still pitched together in a bloody fight._

_The sounds of some men she recognized the accents, they were deep Irish_ _brogues just like Aoife's_ _. "I'm in Ireland!" She said quietly to herself._

_Why would she have been in Ireland in some old castle with a battle raging outside, one moment she'd been lying in_ _Aoife's_ _arms in bed her mind still mapping out the naked plains of her beautiful body and now she was here._

_"Aoife!" She shouted, there was only one reason she would be here,_ _Aoife_ _was here too without further thought she pushed herself away from the window and with speed she didn't know she was capable of she was out of the heavy door and descending down a stone staircase._

_The cold stone against her bare feet made her shiver, she hadn't noticed until now that she wore no shoes._

_Reaching the bottom Elle suddenly as though by magic found herself in front of a door, open slightly she pushed it open further and cautiously stepped inside, if anything happened she knew_ _Aoife_ _would protect her._

_Inside the room was filled with big burly men, each carrying large swords they watched someone that Elle couldn't see, they towered over her, she tried to stand on tiptoes but had no success._

_In her activity to try and see she fell over and bumped into a warrior, yet he did not move, nor did he turn to look at her, Elle frowned in confusion._

_She pushed another man and he did not move and he did not turn to face her._

_Elle mused to herself quietly, they could not see her, it was as if she was not there._

_She braced her hands by her mouth and took a deep breath daring to let out words she would never say out loud. "_ _Aoife_ _has a sexy bottom!" Her cheeks flamed red, no one turned around._

_" Interesting. " She shrugged._

_"I actually said that word out loud." She still wasn't sure she could ever say when people were present who could actually hear her or look at her._

" **Drawback!** " _She heard a familiar voice shout out loudly. " We can't fight the_ _bastards_ _unless we're in unison. "_

_"Aoife!" Elle whispered fighting her way through the wall of men to make it to the front and see the woman, fierce in medieval gothic black, her hair wilder than she was used to, she wasn't like the pristine_ _Aoife_ _she had ever know, she was wild and_ _untameable_ _, if anything she was even more alluring than she was already, something that Elle did not expect to happen._

_The members of the clan watched her, a fierce flame alight in her eyes, it made Elle clench her fists and fight for strength as her stomach did cartwheels. " Oh my God, she is beautiful. "_

_Each grizzled war-torn man nodded, their heads bowed, the woman was right even if they wished not to admit it out loud, yet doing as a woman said cut them, maybe even more so than a sword would do, they were men, Elle rolled her eyes stepping out in front of them all a fierce look on her face. "Listen to me you big meanies, you listen to her okay!"_

_Everyone ignored her_

_Aoife_ _felt her blood rage Elle saw the raw hate and anger build. "This is my families castle, my families land we've been here since the time of Niall and I'll be_ _damned_ _if I'll let them or anyone take it from us!" She pulled a vast great sword out, Elle gasped it was the same sword._

_"It's_ _Sorcha_ _." She whispered._

_"So sit here and fall where your stubborn wee_ _asses_ _are glued with shame for having not listened to a woman, or fight, fight and die for it's better to die on your feet with fire in your heart than curl up and die!" Elle felt her heart jump to her mouth as she watched her once pale features turned blood red with effort, her heart pumping harshly within her chest, so much she feared it would break out and escape her._

_Shouts raised up around her, with shaking hands she raised her sword the loud battering of wood and harsh English shouts called out to them._

_Elle jumped at the sound._

_"For my father, for_ _Diarmuid_ _Drugain_ _and my brothers who died as heroes pray we all live to tell their stories!" Aoife cried out her sword pointed up high, before turning and running through the door._

_"Aoife!" Elle cried out with fear, was this it, was she here to watch her die? Was she here to watch her be murdered in battle, by some heartless invaders_ _who_ _didn't care how beautiful her smile was or how soft her_ _voice_ _was when she spoke when the light drew dark and they were cuddled under the covers in their bed? She couldn't let that happen, she had to save her._

_Leaving the army of hairy dolls where they stood Elle followed in_ _Aoife's_ _footsteps._

_The echoes of shouts filled the air as she ran as fast as she could after the woman. "_ _Aoife_ _wait." She called after her, her hand waving in the air._

_"Aye, what do we have 'er then, I'll tell you what why don't you and I 'ave a little fun." He_ _leered_ _at her, his eyes trained on the cleavage of her modestly slim-fitting black dress._

_Aoife_ _struggled not to empty the contents of her stomach. "Not in this lifetime, I would rather throw myself from the_ _battlements_ _."_

_Elle heard to voices recognizing the fierce determination in her voice, it had not changed over the centuries, but she knew now what_ _Aoife_ _sounded like when she hated when she truly hated someone._

_Elle ran faster until she stood at the end of the hallway the two people in her sights._

_" You've got no choice. "_

_He lunged forward his massive bulky frame_ _hurdling_ _towards her like a wild animal set to catch its prey,_ _Aoife_ _waited, Elle felt the icy cold fear clench at her, this was it this was how_ _Aoife_ _Drugain_ _died she kept telling herself._

_He reached out to grab her, leaning sideways moving out of his reach she raised her sword in the air with one hand, the_ _meager_ _muscles in her arm flexing and twitching with the effort, with a sudden clash of her arm she sliced it into his shoulder, he let out a feral cry of pain hissing clenching at his wound as_ _Aoife_ _moving her long raven black hair from her eyes where it had fallen, standing over him blood specs over her porcelain cheeks, like an executioner standing over her victim._

_Elle finally moved her hands away from her eyes and took in the scene,_ _Aoife_ _standing over the fallen soldier, Elle couldn't help the surge of pride that filled her._

_"For my father." She heard her say_

_" Bitch! " He hissed, struggling to his feet, his feet slipping as_ _Aoife_ _plunged the sword into his chest twisting it with such force it appeared at the other side of him._

_"I don't like that word."_

_Elle clapped her hands together. "That's it_ _Aoife_ _!"_

_Turning swiftly on her heels she paced with purpose further down the hallway bloodlust filling her, Elle picked up her pace gingerly stepping around the dead man._

_Elle gasped at the sight of another English soldier appearing like ghost from the mist of the sunlight reflected through the castle window, a nasty scowl on his face,_ _Aoife_ _didn't stop, she sped up running until their swords clashed sending out a loud echo through the narrow ancient hall, the effort vibrated violently up her arm, too close to him, before he could react she lifted her leg and kicked him hard as he clenched at the pain in his private region,_ _Aoife_ _sent the sword home into his side, pulling it out_ _heartlessly_ _and swiftly moving on._

_"Oh my goodness_ _Aoife_ _," Elle whispered, she hoped she would teach her all of this, she wanted to know how to do it too._

_Elle followed behind her and every man she met she slew, Elle had watched with amazement and awe._

_She'd managed to  drive the army back through the castle gates, past the sea of dead faithful_ _Drugain_ _warriors, Elle had followed her every step of the way pride in her heart and a smile in her face, this wasn't going to be the day_ _Aoife_ _Drugain_ _met her fate, this was the day she watched as_ _Aoife_ _Drugain_ _kicked some serious butt._

_She stood beside her even though she could not see her, or even feel her presence, she wanted to hold her, wrap her arms around her tight and tell her how she felt, was it love? was it possible to love someone so quickly?_

_Aoife threw her sword down to the grass and let despair take over the tears rolled down her face, Elle stood by hopelessly as she watched her cry, she'd never seen her cry,_ _Aoife_ _was strong and capable she never cried, yet here and now she did._

_Elle watched suddenly as she let out a painful gasp her green eyes far too wide open, Elle surged forward to catch her but she could not, she fell to her knees anyway, coughing trying to catch her breath and breathe._

_Red rivers began to trickle from her mouth Elle tried to wipe it away the wetness in_ _Aoife's_ _eyes shone brighter as tears fell down her cheeks and poured into the ground below like insignificant specks of salty rain._

_"Aoife, no please!" Elle shouted frantically she did not notice the dark figure stood in front of them until his shadow covered them and she looked up at his peaceful blue eyes,_ _pitty_ _in his eyes as he leaned down to touch her chin gently._

_Elle wept louder as_ _Aoife_ _struggled to breathe hate and confusion in her eyes as the life started to fade from them, the blood pouring from her mouth and down her neck._

_"Shush now child the end will come, I'm helping you, it's not a woman's place to fix this mess and rule over men."_

_"_ _Aoife_ _no!!!!"_

Elle had found herself in a very strange position, she'd awoken from her far too realistic dream shaking and afraid, the image of Aoife dying, Aoife dead burned into her mind and she couldn't get rid of it.

She'd not mentioned it to her she hadn't wanted to worry her or bring her down from her happy mood, so she'd walked alone with the burden all day.

When Laura had offered to teach her something called yoga she'd been more than happy, hoping it would take her mind of Aoife and her horrid dream of ominous possible pasts.

Aoife and Danny had gone out a while ago and when they'd returned they came equipped with a large table, long legs sticking out of the bottom they both carried an end even though either was capable of carrying it on their own.

"Come on," Laura said to her taking her attention away from the scene, away from Aoife. " Let me show you this one, luckily you are wearing pants, you need to do a sort of handstand, and spread your legs out wide. "

"Are you crazy?" Elle gasped.

Laura laughed falling to the ground to begin her demonstration.

"Where the hell did you get this?" Carmilla asked her voice unimpressed.

"We found it." Danny shrugged but sending a secretive smirk towards Aoife who met it.

Carmilla frowned. "Where did you find it?"

"Wow Mom, what's it got to do with you." Aoife mocked. 

"You stole it didn't you?" Carmilla asked, she knew the answer. 

Aoife and Danny exchanged a not so guilty look a smirk on each face. "Maybe."

In fact they had, while at a deserted bar close to the one where they had fled days ago, the owner had decided to be rude and so Danny and Aoife had repaid his incivility by stealing his pool table, along with all the assessories, it would give them something to do. 

The sight of her sister was far too funny, when had she become so serious? This was not the Carmilla she had known, Danny was far too much fun, just as her thoughts were going wild with the comparrisons her eyes were drawn to the scene behind Carmilla, Elle in a strange yoga position her legs spread eagle in the air made Aoife think of dangerously sinful activities. 

"I' can't believe you did that and...and you aren't even looking at me!" Carmilla said firmly. 

"No, err...get lost, everyone get lost even you Danny sorry." Aoife still starred at the sight as they all turned to look at each other before reluctantly doing as she had told them. 

"We're doing yoga." Laura protested. 

"Get lost Leanne." 

Laura rolled her eyes and folled her girlfriend to the door as always the woman seemed to know how to wind her up. 

Left alone Aoife smiled wickedly as Elle stood up her cheeks red from the activity. 

Aoife smiled watching her, "Come here." She held her hand out which Elle happily took, pulling her close Aoife took the opportunity to move in for a kiss, their lip moving together Elle let out a sound of approval.

After a long moment Aoife pulled her lips away but still lingering close she whispered. "Come on I will teach you how to play, it will be fun."  _Very fun._ "Danniy and I had some luck today and come upon this beauty." 

" Okay. " Elle smiled. watching as Aoife went to pick up the cue handing one to her Elle took it.

The green-eyed woman took the triangle and put the balls inside it, lifting her head up when she had finished. "Okay so come and take the break shot, Elle. "

Elle jumped eagerly to do as she was to!d the lyrical sweet way she had said her name still singing beautifully in her heart.

"How do I?"

" Come and stand in front of me. " Aoife instructed smiling mischievously as Elle stood in front of her, Aoife moved her arms either side of her pushing gently down so that she was bending over the table Aoife close behind her molded to her, arms stretched out around her.

Elle blushed at the closeness as her heart raged faster in her chest.

"You are going to want to hit those colored balls there with the white ball, so steady your cue and line it up. " Aoife leaned in closer her head now sat on Elle's shoulder her whole body touching as close as she could get.

Moving along with Aoife's motion Elle swung her cue and hit the white ball sending it hurdling towards the balls stacked in a triangle shape.

They watched as the balls parted flying randomly around the table, Aoife frowned when not one but three striped balls landed in pockets.

She turned to look at Elle, her guilty face turning away at the close scrutiny. "Spill it little one."

" I may already know how to play. " Elle said softly.

"Oh, do you and what was all this about?" Aoife asked spinning her around and pinning her to the table her hands planted on either side of her, but Elle had no intention of running.

" To get you to do this. " She shrugged.

"You sneaky sneaky squirrel. " Aoife smirked. "As if you even had to play games, you could have just asked but now I get to show you how naughty you've been. "

Aoife wrapped her arms around Elle she had no problem with sneaky if this was the outcome, she gently kissed her parted lips, at once the kiss sparked a passion, Aoife moaned at the feel of Elle's soft lips against her own, she felt her body burning as Elle moved her hands erratically over her back. 

Aoife moved her hands up to her head and run her fingers through the soft trails of Elle's hair, Elle copied Aoife's actions pasing her own slender fingertips sensuously through Aoife's raven black hair. 

The vampire moved her hands slowly from her lovers hair, down to her hips . as she moved in closer fitting herself between Elle's legs as she lifted her up to sit on top of the pool table behind her never breaking the kiss. 

"Aoife." Elle whispered when the vampire moved her mouth from hers and trailed soft open mouthed kisses across hercheek, down her neck and up to her ear, Elle even held in the urge to flinch when she felt her lips open over her exposed nape, it felt too good, the emotions was storming over her and in that moment she never wanted them to stop. 

Instictively Elle wrapped her legs around her waist trapping her, through her shirt Aoife lifted her hand to cup over her breast letting ot a frustrated grunt when it wasn't enough, quickly she moved away and helped to pull Elle's shirt over her head, she was quickly back in her place, her hand now caressing a bare breast as she smiled through their kiss, nibbling her bottom lip as she did. 

  "Oh, yessss..." Elle moaned against Aoife's neck as she worked her fingers on her nipple, she had never thought that something could feel so good, yet it did. 

 Moving back up she placed her lips over Elle's; Aoife kissed her forcefully, sucking, biting and bruising her lips. Just as she began to roll and pinch Elle's hardened nipples she pushed her back  so that she was lying against the pool table, Aoife leaning over her working her magic. 

Aoife worked her way back down her body kissing every inch of bare flesh that met her on her journey, letting the tip of her tongue play along the edges of Elle's nipple causing her to groan out louder clasping Aoife closer in her leg grip, holding her head to her with her hands unwilling to let her leave and stop what she was doing, somewhere within her she felt the pounding sensation of something she couldn't quite name, as her heart fluttered faster. 

"I left my....what the!" 

Elle jumped at the sound of the familiar voice, Aoife glared at the woman in teh door who was now looking still straight at them her mouth open, it had been one thing to think about Aoife and Elle together but it was another thing to actually see the very physical evidance. 

Carmilla shifted her feet nervously. 

"Get out!" Aoife growled at her sister angrily.  _Why does she always interrupt when things are getting good?_


	25. Dating Danny

Aoife pulled her legs up further under her as she turned the page of the book in her hand, furrowing her brows as she continued to read.

The house had descended into a quiet lull since almost everyone had decided to leave, so for the last few hours Aoife had enjoyed the quiet, all of her life there had been moments when the need for solitude was too great in her and she would seek her own company.

Even as a young child she would sneak away from her brothers and find sanctuary under a tree in the summers or a corner of their castle with a candle in the winters, books were very different in her youth, the very fact she could read was an uncommon thing, yet her parents had employed the best tutors they could find and she had shared the same education as her brothers.

A breeze hit her again as Danny walked back and forth, her cell phone in her hand and a ridiculous smile on her face, cheeks red she scuffed her feet on the ground coyly. "Oh you, you can't say that and mean it."

Aoife tried to ignore the chatter as she had done for the last twenty-six minutes, but it wasn't working.

"You know I am looking forward to it." Danny hopped happily on her feet. "No you wouldn't, you really can't I will be back by our date."

Aoife looked up and rolled her eyes, suddenly it all made sense, it was Danny's mystery woman, a smirk crept across her mouth at the thought, she'd never really had Danny mention anyone since she had met her, a lot of that had been because she was dealing with being changed and coping with the guilt of what she had done.

This was the first time and so it must mean that Danny really liked this woman.

"I will too be there." Danny chimed bending over laughing. "You are too crazy, you really would do that for me?"

 _Gee Danny play hard to get just a little bit._ Aoife thought as she took in the other woman's overeager enthusiasm as she danced in front of her.

"I really will be there, my sister is like a superhero she always does what she says." Danny smiled warmly forgetting for a moment that the woman she was talking about was sat in front of her.

The green-eyed vampire felt the words hit her unexpectedly, she'd been praised before, of course, she had but the spontaneous verbal applause from Danny seemed so sweet and genuine it made Aoife feel like the superhero she'd mentioned, Batwoman and Catwoman were taken already she was pretty sure DC had copyrighted the names. _I could be something much cooler,_ _like....hmm_ _like .....Oh, I'll think about that later._

Danny finally put the phone from her ear a dreamlike expression on her face as she waltzed to the couch hypnotically throwing herself down next to an amused Aoife.

" That was the woman I'm going to marry. " Danny sighed happily.

Aoife arched an eyebrow upwards. "So it wasn't your chiropodist then?"

" Nope, it was her, the one. "

Green eyes turned towards her. "So that was your lady x was it?" Enjoying teasing the other vampire Aoife's green orbs twinkled and glowed, reflecting the smile that aligned across her red lips.

"Yeah."

" Well? "

Danny shrugged. "Well, what?"

Aoife rolled her eyes. "Are you going to tell me the name of this magical creature, if your planning on proposing one day I'm going to have to know her name so I can write her name on your gift, it would be really awkward calling her thingy all of the time."

Danny chuckled. "So you plan on getting her name right? unlike Laura who you've been torturing from the moment, she came here."

"I may enjoy winding her up, she's very serious." Aoife shrugged. "So come on then tell me her name so I can annoy Leticia even more."

Danny threw her head back against the sofa and laughed. "Are you researching names beginning with L every day?"

" Now I am, I'm running out of them. "

"Her name is Alexia, she's a doctor you know?" Danny said proudly.

Aoife's eyes widened in mock shock, " A doctor in the family, OMG this is outrageous all we have is a Goddess for an adopted mother but if you can bring in a doctor we can be respectable at long last. "

Danny ignored her sarcasm. "Oh, Aoife I swear she is the one, she is amazing and her butt is world class, it really is."

The older vampire smirked. "Is it, maybe you should introduce us maybe she would prefer me, this Doctor Alexia with the world-class butt."

Danny pouted. "No way, she's mine!" _I'm not letting this one go to another brooding vampire._ "Besides you have a pretty possessive little dynamic this morning Perry just mentioned that you looked pretty good today and I swear I saw her shoot daggers at her, also LaFontaine wasn't too happy about that confession."

Aoife laughed loudly, the image of Elle doing that exact thing was amusing, far too amusing and gave her far too much enjoyment. It had been a few days since they had been interrupted on the pool table, and since Carmilla had taken to hiding behind Laura whenever she saw her, apparently the image of Aoife in a compromising position was a little strange and unnerving.

Aoife still found it hilarious, even if Elle hadn't let the scene continue or to relive it again since.

"Aoife?" Danny asked quietly.

" Hmm. "

"Are you and Elle actually dating?" The red-haired vampire finally asked.

"I don't know," Aoife replied. " I don't even know if whatever we have legs to move beyond this place. " She admitted sadly. "Maybe I'm just setting myself up for a massive fall, but I can't seem to want to stop and save myself."

" You've loved her for a long time, haven't you? " Danny asked seriously.

Aoife nodded solemnly. "Yep, a very long time."

"Maybe you should tell her."

"What good would that do? it won't make her love me, it won't make her stay with me when this is all over, and if the only reason she does is that there is no other alternative or she feels like she has to then what a hollow victory that would be." Aoife said sadly. "I don't want to be her only choice I want to be her choice."

Danny shook her head, she'd seen how Elle looked at Aoife, how she talked about her when the vampire wasn't around Elle Sheridan may not know it but she was falling in love with Aoife. "You won't do something incredibly honorable but really stupid will you?"

Aoife laughed again. "There is no one who has ever called me honorable before Danny don't worry, it's not a characteristic I possess."

"Hmm, if you say so, but Laura told me you spent decades looking for Carmilla."

Aoife narrowed her eyes, she didn't like where this conversation was going. "Never confuse honor and duty Danny, they aren't the same things."  _It was my duty because it was my fault._  "Anyway so, you have a date with a hot doctor with an insanely superb butt, that's pretty amazing, so tell me where did you meet, who asked who out?"

Danny recognized the not so subtle change of subject but she went along with it anyway. "I was on my lunch break and we both tried to enter the entrance of the coffee shop at the same time, she ended up on her butt and I played her attacker slash gallant rescuer."

" A fairy tale meeting, how wonderful. " Aoife said amused.

"It really was."

_Elle laughed coyly as she ran into the bedroom, somewhere between the staircase and here she had been divested of her clothes and as she looked down at herself she saw her awkward naked body._

_Her heart beat wildly in her chest as she eyes zeroed in on the door,_ _Aoife_ _stood there a sexy feral_ _predatorial_ _look in her green eyes._   _"You are all mine now, no one can disturb us no." She said as she locked the heavy door behind her._

_Elle looked away from her, suddenly she noticed she was sprawled across the large bed, her eyes widened as_ _Aoife_ _moved nearer, her heart still pounding as another smaller beat began in her most private of places._

_Propping herself up on her elbows Elle watched_ _Aoife_ _stand in front of the bed staring down at her, her mouth suddenly dry and her brain devoid of any thought aside from_ _Aoife_ _and how magnificent she looked, her profile cast in the illumination of the silvery moon outside the window. Her mouth is opened slightly, her chest rises and falls quickly as her breaths come in quicker. Elle felt as breathless as_ _Aoife_ _looked._

_With all the sexy the Victorian-born innocent could muster, Elle_ _pouted_ _her lips and motioned for her to come to come and join her with the index finger on her left hand._

_Elle watched as she quickly regained her composure and chewed on her bottom lip, her thin dark eyebrow raised up high, her hands moved to the tie on the red silk robe she wore and_ _Aoife_ _quickly_ _unfastened_ _it and let it drop to the floor revealing her nakedness underneath._

_Elle drew in her breath with a hiss as her eyes feasted over the naked woman before her._ **_I'm sure she gets sexier over time I see her._ **

_She had perfect curves and a toned stomach. Her breasts were high and firm, sudden images of Elle holding them in the palms of her hands sprung into her mind as though from thin air, her nipples were taut and clenched tightly from the cool air in the room. "You are beautiful," Elle whispered, a predatory grin stretches over_ _Aoife's_ _perfect features as she crawled up the bed to part_ _Elle's_ _thighs and settle her hips between them. Her hands resting on the mattress on each side of_ _Elle's_ _head as she stares down at the dark-eyed woman._

_"You are so beautiful..."_ _Aoife_ _murmured, Elle couldn't help but quirk a brow and grin_ _soppily_ _at her. tracing her hands up_ _Aoife's_ _sides slowly and boldly cupping her breasts in her hands._

_"I love you, and I love it when you look at me like that, I want you to make me forget my own name," Elle spoke confidently watching as_ _Aoife's_ _expression changed and she looked down at her amused._

_"Forget your name? I think I can do that..." Elle closed her eyes and waited for her lips to meet hers, but it doesn't happen._ _Elle's_ _eyes fluttered open when she felt her weight shift off of the bed._

_"Keep them shut. Elle"_ _Aoife_ _whispered huskily._

_Elle can hear her heart begin to race, her skin heating at the thought of what was about to happen. The butterflies in her stomach felt as though they were performing their own air show just for her, She could hear her rustling around in the closet as Elle lie there silently with her eyes still closed shut. The only other sound in the room is her panting breath._

_It had felt as though she had laid there for an age before she felt her weight move back on the bed, the feel of something silky and soft against my hand "head up baby..." Elle hesitated before doing as_ _Aoife_ _asks, her eyes stayed closed tight all the while. Elle felt her slip something that felt like a sleep mask over her eyes, She almost opened her mouth to object but she stopped that when_ _Aoife_ _pressed her lips to hers "trust me." Elle nodded at the sound of her warm voice._

_Elle squirmed when she began to feel_ _Aoife_ _trail her fingertips up along her soft arms, such a simple touch but yet it set each and every one of her nerves on fire. No one had ever had the reaction on her the way that_ _Aoife_ _had._

_"Lift your arms up baby" Her voice is barely above a whisper but Elle did as she asked and raises her arms above her head. Almost jumping when the feel of her_ _tyning_ _something soft around both her wrists, she wasn't frightened of being left helpless to her whim, by now she had learned that_ _Aoife_ _would never hurt her, In fact, something about_ _relenting_ _all control to the glorious woman above her made her far more excited. So when she heard her fasten the other end of whatever it was she was using to restrain her to the headboard above them and pull up until her arms were stretched out Elle can't hide the small moan that escaped her lips._

_Everything goes still and silent for a moment and Elle began to picture her green eyes traveling over the length of her exposed body._ _Aoife's_ _hands trail down_ _Elle's_ _taut stomach and her breath catches momentarily "Do you have any idea how much I love you, Elle?"_ _Aoife's_ _voice is nothing more than a husky whisper as she speaks out loud breaking this statically filled silence that's surrounding them._

_Elle wanted her, but words seem to fail her so instead she just nodded her head in reply. This obviously amused the vampire between her legs as she could hear her utter a dry laugh "I want to tell you all the things I love most about you..." Her hands move from_ _Elle's_ _stomach and trail down to her hips. "I love your body, you have the most delicate curves." Her fingers began to move, walking her fingers up her abdomen and over_ _Elle's_ _sides "even though you're curvy in all the best ways, you have a figure to die for. Toned stomach, strong arms I like knowing I can take care of you. But when you hold me... I feel safe. It's like coming home when I'm wrapped up in your arms."_

_Elle smiled, She couldn't see her but she could picture her face, her perfect face as_ _Aoife's_ _hands skim down her legs to_ _Elle's_ _knees and she pushes them further apart "I love your legs when they're wrapped around my waist or parted like this. You have the sexiest legs." She paused as her head moved lower and began to plant hot kisses up the insides of each of_ _Elle's_ _quivering thighs, each time she stopped at the crook of her legs. Elle groaned in frustration. "Patience baby, you won't be disappointed I promise."_

_"I love your face the best though, your lips, your cheeks bones. How perfect and expressive your eyes are. I could look at your eyes all day..." She dips her fingers into_ _Elle's_ _sex and the woman groaned loudly "I don't need to see your eyes though to see how turned on you are." Her fingers pulled out and then she placed them back in a little rougher than before "you're so_ _fucking_ _wet baby. I wonder if you taste as good as you feel?"_

_Elle felt crazy wild emotions the likes of which she had never known before, she couldn't say anything before she felt_ _Aoife's_ _mouth back where her hands had been. Her tongue lapping away voraciously, all Elle can do is move her hips against her mouth eagerly, pulling at the restraints hard, She had never wanted anyone to touch anyone so bad but knowing she couldn't is maddening._ _Elle's_ _head thrashed back and forth as she_ _savored_ _the way her mouth felt on her she was so close to the edge she had no idea was even there when_ _Aoife_ _stopped._

"What!" She asked in outrage, how dare she stop, Aoife only laughed at her, she could feel something probing at her entrance.

"I told you it would be worth it," Aoife said before she plunged into her.

_"Oh my" instinctively Elle wrapped her legs around_ _Aoife's_ _waist, thrusting her hips up higher forcing the toy further into her._ _Aoife_ _stops for a moment, her hands shaking on the mattress next to Elle. Elle wanted to speak, she wanted to ask her if she was okay, ask her to keep going but she didn't get the chance before she started thrusting into her again, her hips moving fast and furiously._

_The sound of her panting above her made Elle shiver, her own moans sounding like they were coming from someone else. her voice almost unrecognizable as she pushes her to that edge again "come on baby..."_ _Aoife_ _pants at her as she thrusts into her hard and fast "come for me."_

_Elle clenched her fists hard and grit my teeth as she crashed into that wall, her orgasm ripping through her like a tidal wave as_ _Aoife_ _slowed down. When she stopped she fell on top of her lover and reached out to_ _unfasten_ _whatever it is she had used to tie her up with._ _Wordlessly_ _Elle threw her arms around her neck and held her close to her, She could still feel the toy inside of her still and every time_ _Aoife_ _moved it would shift inside of her causing a delicious friction._

Elle's eyes flew open suddenly, her body heated and her heart still raging, disappointment settling in her heart, it had all been a dream, she sighed running her hands over her face. "I really have to do something about these dreams, at least get the real thing otherwise I may very well go mad."


	26. Surprises

Elle never grew tired of watching the lights of the city fly by the car window, everything was so vibrant and alive it danced with vitality.

She turned to watch Aoife her gaze set on the road ahead, the multicolored lights outside illuminating the side of her face in an ethereal glow that made her look like a delicious work of art.

Her heated dreams haunted her every waking moment, they walked in and crept up on her at the most embarrassing times, when they were all eating breakfast together that morning and Aoife had grabbed the maple syrup from Carmilla after declaring she was going to use it all, Elle had watched as though it was slow motion as Aoife had licked off the sugary golden brown syrup from her thumb, Elle had felt herself lost in a trance.

Then there had been the moment she'd walked into the kitchen and found Perry melting chocolate for her cake, the rich silky soft mixture had induced in her that night a dream where Aoife ate the chocolate sauce from her body, her tongue greedily claiming every part of her skin as Elle lay there moaning in sheer bliss.

Last night Elle had sat in the lounge just watching as Aoife's red full lips moved as she talked, the memory of the fell of them, the taste of them was intense.

Elle let out a breath all her thoughts now were on being seduced by the beautiful moody vampire, the memory of how good it had felt that night on the pool table returned to her and she felt her body respond to the remembrance.

"Ok, what's up?" Aoife chuckled Elle had been quiet for far too long and it had not gone unnoticed how long she had been watching her.

Elle felt her cheeks heat up, her mouth run dry. "Nothing."

" Oh no, come on, you are not being truthful, tell me. Maybe I can make it better. " Aoife teased trying to get her to spill what was so clearly on her mind.

That morning LaFontaine had dropped their biggest and best invention in getting rid of all the Anglerfish and with its creation, it would mean soon there was no need for them to remain, Aoife had panicked at what that could mean, so to numb the anxiety she'd brought Elle out on their second official public date.

This time the most expensive restaurant in the whole city, if this was the last night with her then Aoife was going to make it a night she would never forget, which she knew she may regret at some point in the future, but Elle would find someone who she could really love not an unfeeling undead beast with a lump of meat hung for a heat in their chest.  _But maybe she will want me._ The hopeful thought had crept into her mind and was quickly racing to her heart.

"Has Carmilla said anything to upset you? because I will turn the car around right now and teach her a lesson." Aoife asked protectively. 

Elle took a deep breath keeping her eyes ahead of her she didn't dare look at Aoife when she said what she needed to say. "I don't want to go on this date with you."

Aoife blinked hard. "Excuse me."

" No, I don't mean like that, I meant that.. " Elle fumbled for the words to right her initial comment, she could see Aoife's hands tightening around the steering wheel.

She watched as Aoife's face turned to that old familiar stone unreadable face. "Okay, I'll take you back to the house."

Panicking Elle shifted in her seat. "Wait no, I don't want to go back."

" What do you want because you are confusing me, Elle. " Aoife sighed, she had so many plans for tonight but now it all seemed pointless.

Elle took in a deep breath now was the time, she had to say it now, out loud. "I don't want to go to the restaurant because...be..because I want you to make love to me."

The vampire flashed her head around to face Elle, convinced she had made the whole thing up in her messed up lovesick mind. "Pardon me."

Elle gulped hard. "You don't have to if you don't want to I just...I wanted to..I mean I really want to an..Wait what's happening are you angry?" Elle gasped as she watched Aoife shift up their speed, her hands moving over the wheel rapidly. 

" Are you crazy? We're skipping the restaurant and Carmilla always interrupts us back at the house, we're going to a hotel, they do room service, nothing and no one will interrupt us this time little one. "  Aoife said with a determined steel in her voice, this was all her wildest dreams come true, she only hoped that this wasn't like the dreams she had been having recently where she'd woken up just as things got interesting.

Elle smiled. "You really want to?"

" Silly question to ask me. "  _It's only been nearly one hundred and fifty years._  

                                                                                       xxx

Elle held in a gasp as she walked through the door, the hotel suite was huge, bigger than she had ever thought possible, she remembered her journies as a child when they would stay overnight at inns they were usually tiny, old, cold places to be in but this was luxury at it's highest. 

_Aoife_ _did this for me._

The lights dimmed low, so low they were hardly visible but that didn't matter scattered all around the room like yellow glowing crystals of heat small candles sat, their flames dancing and swaying as they existed. 

Along the soft fluffy carpet under her feet, delicate sweet smelling rose petals were lain out heralding their welcome, they lead all the way into the room and gathered around the modern white and glass table which was decorated with a silver bucket filled with ice and a bottle of champagne. 

She jumped slightly at the sound of the door closing behind her breaking her out of her own thoughts and appreciation of the romantically decorated room. "How did you do all of this?" Elle asked with wonder turning around to face Aoife. 

Aoife frowned. "What the  hell, those petals should be on the bed on the damn floor!" Frustrated that the one thing they had been given to do they had ruined, she'd wanted everything to be so perfect for Elle, she'd wanted it to be perfect for herself. 

Elle smiled. "I think it looks perfect."

"You do?"

The smaller woman nodded a warm smile spread across her mouth. "Oh yes, it's wonderful."

 _That's lucky, someone won't be dying today._ "Well, it's the honeymoon suite so it's basically always like this." Aoife shrugged as though it were nothing. "I wanted everything to be wonderful for you." Aoife smiled moving closer to Elle and pulling her into her arms, she would have been an idiot to say she had never expected to find themselves in this situation, of course, they had done before, and if certain annoying interruptions hadn't happened then they would already have had their first full sexual encounter. Now it seemed like such a good idea that they hadn't, a pool table isn't exactly romantic, memorable perhaps but not romantic. 

Aoife moved away Elle's hair that covered her eyes, she'd been using it to hide behind and Aoife wanted to see her whole face, she wanted to see her eyes. "You have beautiful eyes." She whispered. 

She pulled Elle closer and the smaller woman could feel her heart beat a little faster her breath shortened as she was held captive by Aoife's bewitching emerald green eyes. She wanted her to take her, wanted to be filled with all the feelings she knew only Aoife could fulfill. 

"Are you sure?" The raven-haired woman whispered. 

"Yes, just kiss me please." 

Holding down the excitement and elation Aoife smiled, "This is the kind of command I can happily comply with, but do you want to open the champagne first or not?"

"Will you stop aggravating me and kiss me!" Elle snapped. 

"Yes, Ma'am." Aoife chuckled. "Where were we, oh yes I was about to kiss you."

"Yes, do it." Elle gasped out. 

 Elle's heart almost stopped as Aoife leaned in and kissed her wanton lips. So soft, so tender, her tongue danced inside Elle's mouth and the vampire's lips wandered around Elle's. Aoife's hand cupped Elle's cheek. 

Aoife finally released Elle's face and stood back. Looking straight into her dark eyes. Elle was lost, captivated. _I am all yours._

'Are you ok?' Aoife asked? Her voice was soft and tender, as though this was their very first kiss when they had so many in such a short time. 

Elle could only nod, she'd lost the power of speech, yet somehow she managed to utter one simple hoarse word. "More."

Aoife smirked, taking Elle by the hand and leading her to the couch, sitting Elle down on the comfy white leathered upholstery, kneeling herself between Elle's legs. The brunette sat up eager to continue, as Aoife's lips found mine hers again. This time much firmer, but still silky soft. They kissed and their tongues danced independently to their own beat. 

Aoife's hands found Elle's breasts and softly she squeezed them, her hand sliding under the moaning woman's top taking her breasts out of their bra.

Talented fingers worked Elle's nipples to attention, making her crave the Vampire's touch more and more with every passing second. Aoife's kiss traveled its way to Elle's neck then back to her mouth again.

Suddenly Aoife stopped earning a protest from Elle, instead, Aoife reached up to remove Elle's top and undid her bra letting it fall to the floor. 

Aoife stood up and started to undo her dress button by button, Elle watched through misty eyes, the remembrance of the only other time she had ever seen her naked, her feet itched, she wanted to jump up and rip it off but instead Elle sat still. 

Once undone Aoife let it fall off revealing a black set of suspenders garter belt and matching bra and undies set. She looked good enough to eat, it was a strange thought one she'd never had before, and she had thought she had loved Carmilla, but Elle had never had these kinds of thoughts about her. 

Shaking aside her myriad of thoughts as Aoife slipped off Elle's pants embarrassed by the plain undies she was wearing compared to Aoife's glamorous ones. Aoife ripped them off and tossed them on the floor as laid her lover back on the sofa.

Kissing her slowly again, paying attention to every nook and crevice of Elle's hot eager body, exploring each inch, finding new erogenous zones never before encountered. 

Elle felt herself give in, be lost in the moment almost before Aoife had even reached her nipples. Her kiss wandered from Elle's mouth to her ears and neck then down to her chest and had her body bucking wanting more. Once her lips enclosed around Elle's nipple she let out a scream of pure delight. This only encouraged Aoife more as her free hand wandered down and found Elle's pleasure spot.

Aoife's two fingers ran teasingly along the length of Elle's already wet and willing entrance. She sucked, kissed and played with her until the pleasure was too much and with a stunned gasp Elle came strong and loud.

Aoife looked at her lover a self-satisfied smirk on across her lips as stood up offering her hand to the red-cheeked woman. Without hesitation, Elle stood and followed her into the bedroom.

Inside the bedroom Aoife turned and pulled her into her arms, their lips meeting frantically Elle's hands grasped onto Aoife's waist not willing to let her leave her. "Lay on the bed baby," Aoife said against her lips. Her voice was soft, sexy and wanton. It filled Elle with excitement, butterflies building in the pit of her stomach again. 

Wasting no time Elle did as instructed and climbed in from the end of the bed. Opening her legs as if by instinct. Watching a naked Elle lying in the big luxurious bed just for her she crawled up and kissed her directly on her moistness. Her lips were soft and full. She sucked in her lips into her mouth then began licking and kissing more and more.

Her fingers one, two, and then three...Elle's hands grabbed her head hard as she took her over the top once again, letting out a series of loud groans. The feeling rendered her unable to speak or control herself. Again she came and came one orgasm leading to the next until Aoife had had her fill and when she did she finally lifted her head up to meet her gaze. 

"Are you having fun?" Aoife asked smiled at Elle. 

"Oh Gosh yes... Can I please touch you? Please?" Elle gasped out breathlessly. 

Aoife chuckled. "I was hoping you would."

Just as Aoife laid herself down beside her lover expecting her to move slowly towards her, Elle began by running her fingers down Aoife's toned stomach. "What will you do when this is all over?" She spoke shyly. 

Aoife watched her fingers move across her skin, felt the delicious tingles they created. "The same as always I imagine."

"Oh," Elle replied disappointed. 

Aoife furrowed her eyebrows, "You want me to be an Anglerfish hunter for life now? It's not as glamorous as you think you know." She laughed. 

"I know." _I mean are you going to leave me alone._

An awkward silence filled the room fighting her own insecurities Aoife grabbed a hold of Elle's hand and pulled her close. "Whatever happens I hope you plan on being there with me."  
  
  
  
  
  



	27. The Morning After

Aoife felt her eyes flutter open softly, her eyes took a moment to adjust to the darkness that had encased the room in, a sly self-satisfied smirk finding its way across her mouth at the sudden memory.

It wasn't a dream anymore, not something that sleep gave birth to and wakefulness stole away like a thief in the night.

Careful not to wake the sleeping woman Aoife shifted so she was leaning on her side, her hand resting against the side of her face as she took in the soft gentle plains of Elle's face.

The gentle lull of the soft moonlight escaping through the windows kissed Elle's cheeks lovingly, every so carefully Aoife lifted her free hand and softly traced her fingers over Elle's skin, relishing in the warmth that hit her.

After over five hundred years of mornings under her belt, this one really did win the best of them all, she'd earned many worst, the first being the morning she woke to be told of her mother's death, but this one was devoid of fear or anxiety.

This morning she had Elle and Elle wanted a tomorrow, she wanted something even when this whole Anglerfish debacle was over.

Guilt still lingered at the pit of her stomach, she knew if they were to be in a real relationship then she would need to tell Elle everything, she should have done it before they'd had sex but Aoife had been irrational, she'd thought only of Elle and finally getting to feel Elle's soft naked skin against her own, in that haze she had lost sight of what she should do.

The clock on the nightstand glowed six AM, Aoife sighed they would have to leave soon hopefully today would be their last trip down the Anglerfish pit, and then she could escape having to see Carmilla every day and go back to trying to forget she ever existed.

"Are you awake?" Aoife whispered leaning closer letting her lips echo across Elles's jaw. 

" It's hard to sleep when you watch me like that. " Elle replied sleepily.

Aoife smirked. "And how is that?"

" Like you want to eat me. " Elle blushed. 

The emerald green eyes of the Vampire sparkled mischievously. "You get the meaning of that now?"

Deciding sleep was a waste of being in bed with Aoife, Elle opened her eyes fully and shifted so she was facing her, "If I didn't before I do after last night."

" Only last night? " Aoife challenged.

"And the few times this morning." Elle blushed, it had been a strange sensation to find herself being awoken by a kiss, not just any kiss, and in not just any place. 

"I get my most inspiration in the mornings," Aoife smirked pushing her back and rising above her like a predator, her eyes greedily taking her in. "I don't see you complaining "

Elle swallowed hard, her heart racing. "Maybe I like your inspiration."

"Do you, well I would hate to disappoint you." Aoife teased her voice as thick as honey as she moved down Elle's body, her eyes still firmly fixed on Elle's dark depths.

Deep down in the ground far away from her warm and enticing place between Elle's legs, Aoife found herself once more in the pit, only now they were equipped to be less Gladiatress and more GI Jane.

Carmilla silently watched her sister a part of her wishing this wouldn't work and she could get the excuse to stay here and make Aoife spend time with her, it wasn't fair that she would have to leave and pretend that none of this ever happened that she had never learned what she had learned. 

To live knowing that her sister hated her, that was a harsh burden to carry around with her every day, she wished she could turn the clock back, change everything and somehow make sure that she never let Aoife go, she was her sister the only one who had ever been on her side no matter what, the only one who had risked her life over and over again to save her. 

Now it meant nothing, and she knew why, and that made it hurt her even more. 

Clutching the large 'machine gun' LaFontaine had been working on that fired out on hundred rounds of bullets, which were actually melted lead formed into pointy-headed torpedoes.

"I hope this works," Danny whispered as they lurked waiting for the remaining Anglerfish to take the bait they had set up, this time they would be prepared, this time they wouldn't end up covered in goo.

Aoife had already warned Carmilla in her usual aggressive bossy way, which really meant.  _"Don't be an idiot and get yourself killed, I couldn't take that guilt."_ "Don't worry I'll get you to your date Cinders, and you know I'm going to have to check this woman out right, make sure she is suitable for my sister.

Danny chuckled. "No way, I don't want to scare her away, I will save you for last, if she isn't afraid of your scowl then she is a keeper." 

Carmilla frowned at their exchange, they were planning a future and she was left out. "Can you two stop your sickening display and do this, you are making me ill." 

Aoife spared Carmilla a quick glance before turning her attention back to Danny. "Scowling isn't my only talent for the unpleasant." 

"So does that mean you will be coming to visit me?" Danny asked a hopeful shine in her eyes. 

Both Danny and Carmilla waited for her reply, each for different reasons. 

Aoife smiled. "Of course I will, I promised you didn't I?" 

Carmilla rolled her eyes mumbling under her breath. "Yeah, you are so good at keeping promises."

"Excuse me?" The green-eyed woman turned her attention towards her. 

"Nothing."

"Good, I kept too many of my promises for you, you ungrateful idiot," Aoife told her firmly, gripping the gun firmly in her grasp again. 

Carmilla watched as Aoife and Danny passed along a wordless message to each other, she had felt stupid to expect the same but when Aoife turned to her with an unkind glare in her eyes and a grunt of warning she still felt her heart break a little more.

Suddenly there was no time for words around a corner and descending rapidly into the area they'd set the shrimp bait contraption were hordes of the beasts, eyes eager to claim what they smelled.

"This is it, our ticket out of this hell hole!" Aoife smiled. "it's time to kiss goodbye to Nemo and his far too many siblings!"

"Can we cut the cute fish metaphors." Carmilla rolled her eyes as Aoife jumped out into the heat of the fish alone, she felt her anxiety build watching her sister face them.

Firing off the ammunition in rapid succession a whole spate of fish went down with loud deep painful groans crashing to the ground with an almighty thumb sending the ground to vibrate under their feet. 

"This is pretty cool!" Aoife shouted loudly trying to make herself heard over the noise. 

It was too quick, Aoife was turned away, content to eliminate the fish when one broke away, his ugly Sharpe grotesque teeth jutting out of its mouth and aiming right at Aoife, Carmilla watched it unable to speak, instead she ran from the place she had been warned to stay towards Aoife, ripping the ancient trusted sword from her shoulders and then without stopping even when she heard Aoife shout her name repeatedly, she charged towards the fish that would dare try and trick her sister. 

Leaping into the air she realised that she had not quite judged her jump well enough, instead of rising to reach its head she came face to face with its monstrous mouth, its rancid breath assaulting her sensing making her stomach churn. 

Before she had time to register a round of bullets flew past her and struck the Anglerfish, when she landed on the ground, followed by the thumb of the fish, she heard Aoife marching towards her angrily. 

"What the hell are you playing at? I told you to stay where you were, again you had disobeyed me and again put the whole thing in jeopardy, why will you never listen to me?" Aoife shouted frantically, she's almost had a heart attack when she turned to see Carmilla almost offering herself as an Anglerfish appetizer. 

"No need to thank me for saving your life." Carmilla rolled her eyes sarcastically. 

"Saved my life, hell you nearly fed yourself to Captain Hook over there!" Aoife met her glare challenging her.  

Carmilla glared at her sister in disbelief, she'd tried to help her and this was how she was treated. "I was helping you, if it wasn't for me you would have become fish food!"

Aoife narrowed her eyes angrily. "I do not need your help, I did not ask for it I told you to stay put, I told you because......oh who fucking cares anymore the fucking fish are fried bread, I can leave this hell hole and never come back."

"Good!" Carmilla shouted. 

"Hey come on you two we should be celebrating." Danny jumped in hoping to stop the argument before it escalated into something even more unfriendly. 

"This is none of your business, just because you're her favorite now you kiss her ass!" Carmilla raged back at her her face almost green with jealousy. 

"I do not!" 

"That's enough, I'm getting the hell out of this pit and getting the hell away from you!" Aoife turned away not waiting to see if the two other vampires followed. It was over and now she could finally leave Carmilla behind if only her heart would allow her to do it fully. 

Elle shifted nervously on her feet, she hated the wait, it always seemed to continue forever she was still frustrated that despite Aoife's lessons she wouldn't get to go and face some kind of revenge. Maybe her revenge was walking away and not looking back.

Lately that seemed like the better option, and even more so after her conversation with Aoife, she smiled feeling her cheeks blush wildly.

Her mind sailed back to last night, the whole night with Aoife, her dreams and imagination really had just not compared to the reality, what made it even more intense and meaningful was the moments when Aoife's ethereal green eyes would meet hers and it was as though she forgot to breathe, in those emerald depths she saw a forever she had never known existed. She wanted that forever and she wanted it with Aoife. 

"Has that smile got something to do with why you didn't come back until this morning you naughty girl." Laura teased creeping closer.

" Maybe. " Elle felt her blush grow deeper.

"So you and Aoife are a real thing now?" The nosy reporter asked coyly. "I mean your dating?"

" We are. " Elle confirmed remembering waking up that morning, remembering just how her dreams had paled in comparison to the real experience with Aoife.  _And she loves me I heard her say it._

"What made you change your mind about her? If that's not rude" Laura asked awkwardly, Aoife wasn't the most pleasant of Vampires. 

Elle looked around her making sure no one could overhear her or Aoife hadn't suddenly appeared to hear her confession. "The day Carmilla set fire to my library I was outside and overheard them talk."

Laura frowned, that had been what changed things between them? "You overheard Aoife saying she was the one who told her mother about Carmilla's plan, how did you get over that?" Laura asked interested, something must have happened to seal the trust that Aoife and Elle had grown so quickly. "But I guess it's a little like Carmilla and me."

"What," Elle asked feeling a cold sweat creep across her skin. " What are you talking about? " _This can't be true._

Laura lost her smile. "Err...well you said you overheard Aoife and Carmilla and I  tho..... oh, you didn't know that bit did you?" Laura panicked.  _Crap_ _._

A thousand thoughts flew through Elle's mind, it couldn't be true, Aoife wouldn't do that she said she loved her, she heard her but she'd been the reason she was killed. Nausea hit her, her head began to swim and her vision clouded, she'd been a fool again. 

 


	28. Goodbyes

Aoife made her way up the hallway her eyes already zeroed in on the door she needed to enter, when she had made it to the top of the pit and finally out in the open she'd looked around for Elle, she'd been confused about why she wasn't there, she'd worried she was ill or something like that.

She'd watched as Carmilla was swept into the arms of her lover, yet she couldn't help feeling a little lost without Elle. So Aoife had swiftly made her way back to the house.

Turning open the handle the vampire entered the room, her eyes zoning in on the back of the woman she loved who stood by the window looking out.

"Hey, I got worried when you weren't there when we got out," Aoife said quietly, there was something about the rigid stance of Elle's shoulders that set her on edge, had something happened? "We did it, the fish are gone."

"Were you really." Elle's reply came back cold and harsh it made Aoife step back.

She tried to shrug it off, letting out an uneasy laugh she moved closer, as her hand shook she lifted it to touch Elle's shoulder. "Yes."

Upon the touch, Elle shrunk away turning hard harsh eyes onto Aoife and at that moment she felt all hope all vestiges of being happy fade away, Aoife braced herself for the storm to hit.

"Yet you weren't worried when I was thrown down there the first time," Elle said calmer than she felt, her heart beat wildly in her chest as she faced the woman she had unwisely fallen in love with.

Aoife swallowed the acidic bile that assaulted her. "What do you mean of course I cared."

Elle held back tears, "You are lying Aoife, I know, I know it was you."

The green-eyed vampire felt a cold sweat overcome her, as the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, the sight of revulsion in Elle's eyes aimed at her killed her, it had to come out at some time, this was the time, she'd hoped that she could get to tell her but somehow she had learned the truth.

Elle grew angry at the woman's lack of response. "Well, are you even going to deny it?" She shouted.

" I cannot deny it, it is true. " Aoife replied softly, guilt and remorse the old familiar feelings were clawing their way into her again.

Elle let out a laugh. "Of course it is, why did I ever think you would be different? You know something." She moved closer her anger overcoming her. " I was so angry at Carmilla, but you, you were far worse you were the one responsible and then you....you...you come along and make me fal...make me a fool again! "

"You don't know anything." The raven-haired woman said finding her voice, she'd been faced with the most difficult decision of her life, no one could understand how it had felt to watch and be so powerless to prevent an impending catastrophic disaster.

" Oh really, and what is it that I don't know, because to me you are coming off really badly here, especially after last night when we...and you knew all along you were hiding this yet you still did it. "

"You asked me to." Aoife defended herself.

"And did I ask you to lie and kill me too?" Elle replied angrily.

Aoife shook her head in disbelief, she'd paid every day for what she had done, every single day she was haunted by her actions. "When you are faced with knowing someone you love with everything that you are is running head first at great speed into a fucking death sentence of gargantuan proportions or the girl you've never really spoken to and who loves the aforementioned person, yet you have a strange sensation of love, only then can you comment about me."

" And that was an excuse, how can you even claim to care? " Elle shot back her face red, her eyes wet with unshed tears.

"I fucking cared," Aoife shouted back, her shock turning into a misplaced anger. "I knew my mother better than anyone she was an evil spiteful creature, she thrived on pain and inflicting it, I saw many a sibling sacrificed through her sick methods of death, Carmilla was doing something that she would not have forgiven, and she wouldn't have just shrugged her shoulders and let you live happily, oh no that vile thing would have tracked you down to the very corners of the world and made sure that you suffered a painful death, both of you, I had to stop that, you were gone already there was nothing I could do, but Carmilla, I could stop her hurting her and stop mother making you suffer even more."

" Aww, you helped me have a kinder death, eaten by a fucking fish after being thrown down a pit! Why aren't I on the floor kissing your feet? " Elle shouted out, swearing had never been something she had ever done, when she was young it was not something ladies did, yet now she was so angry she didn't know how to speak without cursing.

"You think I walked away? you think I lived happily? Like hell I did, I had to live knowing I had doomed the woman who suddenly made the world bright again, I would have been happy to know you and Carmilla were off living happily together, it made no difference that my heart ached, when it had spent so long ceasing to exist, I lost someone I never had and knew she looked at me with only fear and caution, I lost my sister too dammit!" Aoife's eyes filled with tears. "I lost the one person I had done it all to fucking save!"

"You were just as selfish as her."

Aoife shook her head angrily. " Oh no, that is the problem when you are pulled into the dark by a hand that smiles at you but you know in the depths of those eyes true evil lies, you fear those eyes, you fear those smiles and you become what they make you, because you know the feel of a cold steel sword being thrust through you, you know the last gasp of life, and the very thought scares you. "

"That's no excuse, you lied to me," Elle whispered.

"I had to."

" Why? " Elle asked trying to wipe away the tears without Aoife seeing them fall.

Aoife smiled sadly. "Because you loved Carmilla, you were afraid of me I saw it in your eyes, I wanted you to smile at me the way you smiled at her, I had to watch you from afar to catch a glimpse, then one day you did, you actually smiled at me and I was lost, you were a lighthouse casting your illumination out to my lost ship and I didn't want to lose that limelight, even though I knew it was fleeting."

Elle turned away, facing out the window again, the tears now they fell rapidly. "I want you to leave."

Aoife gasped. "But Elle please.."

" I want you to leave and I never want to see or hear from you again. "

Aoife sighed, her green eyes misty with emotion. "If that is what you want."  _Please change your mind._

" It is. " Elle replied never turning. "What would I want with something like you?"

Aoife smiled sadly tears filling her eyes. "Yeah, that's what I've been thinking all along, goodbye Elle, I'm sorry." Taking one last look at the back of Elle, storing the sight of her up for the moments she was alone, she reluctantly turned away and closed the door behind her, through teary eyes she made her way to their room and took out her things.

Her time in the sun was at an end, she had to retire into the shadows again.

Elle closed the door behind her as her eyes traveled along the empty confines of the room, it looked and felt so empty, so bereft of anything. She'd lost track of how long she had stayed away, making Sure she didn't interrupt Aoife as she prepared to leave.

She felt like that little girl again lost and abandoned.

The door behind her suddenly opened, standing in the doorway was Danny her eyes stained red showing she had obviously been crying, Elle felt guilt hit her, she'd ruined the time that Danny was so obviously spending with Aoife.

Danny held out a large envelope. "Aoife asked me to give this to you."

Elle took it cautiously, her hand shaking slightly a part of her wishing that Aoife had defied her wishes and given it to her herself.

"She's gone," Danny said trying to hold in her own anger, she knew that things must have happened that she didn't know about and that Aoife was far from perfect but in her eyes, Elle was the biggest fool she had ever seen.

"Yes," Elle whispered her eyes tearing at the sight of Aoife's handwriting written across the envelope.

"So be happy, you got your wish," Danny stated before turning on her heels and walking away, she needed to plan her flight, the promise that Aoife had made to come and visit her soon she knew would never happen, she would be even colder and remote now, because she'd opened herself up and gotten herself a smack in the face for her trouble.

_Elle,_

_I would have given you these in person but I wanted to respect your wishes, and you wanted to never see me again, so this is what I am giving you._

_Inside here I have left you the deeds to the house all signed in your name, also the money you were left initially in your father's will, I went to see him when he was near the end, you see the thought of someone else having what should have been yours made me ill, so I convinced him to leave it to be, I never touched it, I had no need of it, not with my vast wealth, but maybe things happen for a reason, and now I can give you back what was always yours, to begin with. As you can see my wise investments and with interest, it's quite a bit bigger._

_I hope these will help make all your dreams come true, and I hope you find someone you can love truly, someone whom has not harmed you at all and you spend a lifetime together, even if the thought pierces through my long dead and decaying heart I can know that for a very small time, too small a time, I knew what it was like to feel the heated rays of your smile aimed at me even though I don't deserve it, and only then did I know what it was to feel alive again._

_I've said too much I'm afraid, but fear, not I shall honor your wish you will never see me again, think of me like a whisper in the wind that quickly faded from your presence._

_I hope one day when you are sitting in your family lounge, you've achieved only the most wondrous things in the world, and the gaze of your love landing on you affectionately, that you can forgive me, even though I could never forgive myself._

_Goodbye Elle._

_Aoife Drugain._

Elle clutched the paper to her breast tears falling to stain the ink and make the writing illegible to the eye. She'd watched as Aoife had put her things in the car, she had been unable to hear what she had said as Danny run up to her but she saw the faint smile Aoife had given her and watched as Danny seemed to battle with herself before ignoring caution and pulled her in for a hug, one that Aoife clasped onto her tightly as though she was afraid to let her go.

Elle remembered her words about Carmilla and had suddenly realized why she would be afraid Danny was all she had in the world and despite her cold detached attitude she loved her.

Danny could afford to love her back she'd never felt the burning sting of betrayal at her hand.

Lifting open the envelope she looked through the papers the house was as she had demanded at the start, all hers, she had more than enough money to live a life that was what made people happy wasn't it? Money.

Laura hurried into the room out of breath from her dart up the stairs and down the hallway in a mad rush, when she stood in the doorway her worst suspicions were confirmed.

There in the middle of the bed, Carmilla sat cross-legged, tears streaming down her face, her head hung low when she heard movement at the door she looked up a tearful forlorn look on her face. "She's gone." Her shoulders shook violently as she burst out into loud sobs.

Laura wasted no time rushing across the room and pulling her into her arms, her jaw resting on top of Carmilla's head. "It's okay."

"It's not okay Laura, she just left and she didn't even say goodbye to me, she just walked away," Carmilla spoke through her misery. "I thought she would at least say goodbye, I'm never going to see her again Laura."

Laura held her tighter, silent for a moment because, in reality, she knew there was nothing she could say that would make things better. "I think Carm, that Aoife did not leave by her own choice, Danny said some things she is pretty angry."

Carmilla let out a loud snort. "Danny is fucking happy she gets her all to herself anyway!"

"I don't think she's very happy Carm, she said something about Elle and Aoife but she wouldn't tell me it all." Laura sighed, she'd been too busy arranging her flight home.

Carmilla let the vague news settle in, why would Aoife leave Elle after everything she had learned that day, everything that she had seen pass between them, pulling slightly out of her girlfriend's embrace she lifted an eyebrow and watched her, something had happened and she had a suspicion she knew how.

Laura felt her face blush. "It was an accident."

"Laura." Carmilla groaned.

"I thought she was talking about Aoife and well you know, and she wasn't but then I told her and she just left I couldn't stop her," Laura replied nervously, it really had been an awful misunderstanding.

"Why did you have to say anything at all, Aoife will hate me even more now." Carmilla's voice cracked and creaked with emotion, the thought of Aoife hating her even more than she already did was too painful.

"I didn't mean to say anything, she was just so happy and I thought that they had sorted everything out because you know she was floating on air a little, and then well...you know." Laura shrugged hopelessly, she'd regretted saying it the moment she saw the look of confussion and hurt in Elle's eyes. "Where are you going?"

Carmilla rushed to the door. "I'm going to stop my sister!"

"But she left over an hour ago," Laura shouted back, it was pointless she knew Carmilla was already out of the room and sprinting at speed down the hall.


	29. Home Again

Laura took one last look around the room, this time they could leave and never return, yet she knew things had changed, Carmilla had been too late or just plain unlucky to stop Aoife she'd returned home thunderous.

She'd had to be stopped charging up the stairs and confronting Elle, Laura had guessed that would end very badly.

"Will you stop sulking we have a plane to catch." Laura sighed picking up a luggage bag, confident that it was heavier than when they had arrived.

Carmilla sat in the middle of the bed her hair falling over her face as she played with the ends of her shoes. "I can do what I want, if I want to sulk about losing my sister then I will." 

" Carm it's sad Aoife is gone but, well you went decades without her how different is it now? "

Carmilla whipped her head up, her eyes wide with disbelief. "It's different Laura because now I know everything, and being separated from her did not make everything okay, I missed her with all my heart and now I know she hates me with everything she is, how do I live with that?"

Laura watched the drops of sadness fill in her girlfriend's eyes, she put down the bag and sat next to Carmilla pulling her into her arms. "I don't know, but I know you are strong and somehow you will do it."

Carmilla sighed, Laura didn't understand the crippling feeling of knowing having someone you idolized hate the very ground you walked on, Aoife loathed her, and the knowledge was so painful it was like a knife through the heart.

"I think that maybe your best bet for anything to happen regarding a reconciliation is talking with Elle, if Aoife learns you helped make her come around then she may start to see you differently." Laura reasoned.

"Her, does she even deserve Aoife? she's fucking crazy when she wasn't trying to get revenge she broke my sister's heart!" Carmilla jumped from the bed, pacing the floor the old wooden boards under her feet groaning and creaking in protest. " Aoife deserves better than that! "

"She is kinda a murderous old vampire Carm, how much does she really deserve?"

" As much as me, more than me, you don't know her Laura she's spent her time alone, she waits for the betrayal to hit, and of course it does, she deserves everything, Laura. " Carmilla moved her arms enthusiastically around. "She told me after our mother buried me in the coffin of blood, she searched for me, she orchestrated a battle on that field in the hopes her plan would work, that is Aoife, Laura, why did she spend so long looking for me to just walk away?"

Shifting off the bed the journalist closed the gap between them, "Sweetie I think there are a few reasons Aoife distances herself from you, none of them have anything to do with her hate of you."

" She hates me. " Carmilla replied mournfully.

"No, no she doesn't, she wants you to think that, but I think her reasons have more to do with her own guilt and if she lets herself go as she would want she would have to forgive herself, and I don't think she can do that." Laura had not let the way Aoife would sometimes observe Carmilla when she wasn't looking, the way her face changed upon seeing sadness in her eyes, then there had been the way that Carmilla had told her how crazy angry Aoife would get down in the Anglerfish pit whenever she disobeyed her and got into trouble, she'd seen the raging anger in Aoife's green eyes that had been more than annoyance, that had been fear it had been concern, it had been an elder sister protecting her sister, just as Carmilla said she had always done.

"I miss her." Carmilla let the tears fall from her eyes.

Elle heard the faint voices as she made her way to the top of the staircase, she'd tried to wipe away the evidence of her crying the night away, but she knew her eyes were stained with red somber rings.

She watched them all for a moment silently, they were leaving it had seemed like an age since she'd been sent back to earth with her life intact, and come across Aoife in her house, well she got her wish, she had her house back but it was an empty possession, a non-existent vessel for past bad memories and now Aoife was gone the place was cold.

She felt the angry glare of Danny on her before she excused herself eager to leave, Carmilla wasn't far behind her even in the absence the sisters were loyal and Elle couldn't blame them.

"You are ready to leave," Elle spoke quietly.

Laura smiled at her. "Yeah, err guys why don't you go and make sure Danny and Carm aren't outside committing some blood pact revenge to avenge Aoife's honor."

"Those two brooding Vamps, this is not Twilight," Nicole said firmly before leading the way out the front door, LaFontaine, and Perry following her leaving Laura and Elle alone.

"So, are you going to be okay here all alone?" Laura finally asked.

Elle shrugged. "I don't know."

Laura nodded in understanding. "You know when I found out Carmilla was trying to make me into an extra on the wicker man I really freaked out big time, but I don't know why but something just happened and we fell in love, but it shows that love can happen in even the darkest of places."

" Yes well, you didn't listen to my warnings. " Elle rolled her eyes.

Laura chuckled. "Would you have listened to mine if I had warned you about Aoife, or would you have followed the feelings that grew organically?"

"Probably not." Elle shifted nervously on her feet at the truth.

" So maybe, Aoife never meant to hurt you, did you see how she spent her time here looking after you, protecting you? She didn't seem like she wanted to hurt you and Danny told us about the house and the money. "

"I'm a very wealthy woman."  _Much good it does me._

"So you can get on a plane to Ireland, Carmilla says that's were she will be, it's that time of the year." Laura smiled before picking up her bag. " I think you will go, I'm not sure this is goodbye, but more of a see you later. "

Elle watched her leave, the door closing behind her the close of the door echoing around the empty house barren now of any life. She turned her head around to observe it.

Suddenly she ran, ran as fast as she could to her room and threw some things into a bag, she had someone she needed to see.

The vast carpet of vibrant green grass stretched out infinitely before her, it heralded her welcome home as it had done a million times before, still every time it looked the same.

Away from the vibrant modern inventions the ground she had been raised in look no different than it had from the time of her youth, behind her the crumbling decaying castle keep lurked as her reminder of times gone by.

She'd walked this path many times before, a million times since her youthful feet had launched herself from her mother's arms to join her brothers in play.

She walked through the broken door, the walls scattered around like a bad game of ......, once it had kept out the bad elements, now it was another reminder of how far away it had all been.

In her mind's eye, Aoife saw it as it was, the fire blazing in the center casting it's warm illuminating glow all around, she smiled sadly as she sat down on a rock, remembering their game of making shapes against the wall and making the shadows move. Here among their ghosts, they came alive again.

Through tear filled eyes she saw her mother sitting in the field, small white daisies surrounding her as birds flew and sang overhead, her big smile as bright as the sun in the sky, the memory was always burned into her mind, her real true earthly mother had been as magnificent as all the stars in the sky and she'd had such a short time with her. her heart ached at that knowledge. 

The home she knew was gone and now all she could see was the skeleton that grew from the ancient soil, it's boney lifeless stone bones protruding up in the sky as though beseeching for the sun to bath it in its eternal glow and make it live again. 

It never worked. 

It would never thrive again and everything that had once been here was lost, the land was still hers, she'd bought it just after she'd left Carmilla in the house, she'd left the chaos of spying, her intention had been completed she had found her sister she wasn't needed any longer. taking the giant gaping ache in her heart for the loss of home, she went to Ireland and bought all of the land that her family had possessed. 

The ache had never healed, she ignored the small voice in her head that told her why. 

The feel of a cold hand pressed on her shoulder, the air around her switching to ice cold suddenly, too cold even for this time of the year her eyes eagerly searched for an answer but she could see nothing around her, although the hand pressed down harder, and as a strange wind whistled by she was caught by the sound of an oddly familiar and longtime unheard echo. 

_Be strong little one, she comes._

Then as suddenly as it came, it was gone and Aoife felt herself shiver. "Err..yeah I'd rather she didn't if it's all the same to you." She called out feeling stupid for even answering as though anything would reply. 

"Aoife." 

 


	30. New Beginnings

"Aoife."

The familiar voice made her heart begin to sing, cursing herself for being an idiot and letting the eerie surroundings get to her, she was imagining things now.

Sighing she stood reluctantly to her feet, it was time to leave weird things were beginning to happen, she should leave anyway she'd promised Danny she would visit her, she wanted to go over that issue she had.

Upon turning around she found her eyes were being just as deceitful as her ears, there in the crumbling decrepit doorway was Elle.

"I know you're not there, I'm just imagining you so just piss off and leave me alone," Aoife said sternly.

"Aoife it's, it is me," Elle whispered.

Aoife narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "What do you want?" She asked coldly, still not trusting herself to not have conjured her up in her mind.

Elle felt her knees shake as she stood in front of her, under her harsh gaze she'd gone through her speech, she had known what she wanted to say until she was faced with Aoife. "I..."

" What do you want Elle I thought you'd said everything you wanted to say, why did you come all the way here for this ..I... " Aoife rolled her eyes. "If that was it then goodbye I need to leave, I need to get back to my inn." She didn't expand, she didn't tell her she'd stayed in this one same inn since her youth, it still had managed to survive the torments her country had endured under the English.

Taking a deep breath there was only one way out that didn't involve climbing over rocks and crumbled walls, that was going past Elle. So stealing herself she held her head up high and powered forward.

Elle felt her knees tremble as she walked closer, her vast green eyes shielded by great big dark shades, her head covered by a chic wide black hat. Tentatively she reached her arm out to stop her, suddenly Aoife was standing too close, Elle saw her own reflection in the dark lenses.

"What?" Aoife asked impatiently.

Elle opened her mouth to speak and found nothing came out, she'd had a list of things to say but faced with Aoife, her mind had been wiped clean. "Thank you for the house." She cringed at her words.

Aoife shrugged. "My pleasure, now excuse me."

" No, wait. " Elle panicked.

Aoife sighed. "What is it, Elle?"

"I...."

" Yes, you already said that, goodbye I am busy. "

Elle's hands shook, her heart jumped to her throat as she realized words weren't going to arrive, instead, she decided action would have to be her method of conveying her message. So with her trembling hands, she reached out to hold Aoife's head in her hands and pulled her close to her, their lips meeting harshly, holding Aoife to her as tightly as she could in the hope she wouldn't escape.

Confusion caught Aoife unawares, and soon she was so lost in their kiss that questioning it or stopping it was just something she could not even contemplate. Instead, she gave herself to the moment and returned Elle's kiss, wrapping her arms around her and pulling her even closer to her.

Elle felt herself smile against Aoife's lips, if she had known it would be this easy then she wouldn't have obsessed about it for hours on the plane, which had been weird enough as her first plane journey, but having the worry of facing the ever terrifying and imposing figure of Aoife Drugain after she'd made her leave made her plane fear disappear into the abyss of rejection.

Finally, when Elle could no longer feel her lips, Aoife pulled away, her eyes still guarded by shields of darkness, yet Elle knew she was searching her own eyes for regret, for her intentions.

"I came here for you," Elle said firmly and confidently.

"What, why would you do that?" Aoife asked softly.

Elle sighed. "Because I regretted what I said as soon as it left my mouth but I was so angry I couldn't take it back, because I tried to sleep at night and your not there to hold me, because when everyone left I looked around the big old house and saw nothing but an empty building."

" But what I did... "

Elle cut her off. "I hate what you did, but I've done bad things too, and.."

" I came to get you. " Aoife suddenly spoke.

"What." Elle blinked hard.

" After she'd taken you, I couldn't find Carmilla, I looked everywhere and then I knew mother had done something, so I...she had this sidekick type guy, I may have spent some hours torturing him, so he would tell me where she had taken you, but when I got there it was too late, I know it's not an excuse but she went back on her word and so I was going back on mine, I know that.." Aoife relived that day that had been branded on her conscious for what seemed like an eternity.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Elle asked suddenly shocked, why had she not told her about this?

"I wanted to explain but you didn't want to hear it," Aoife replied sadly. " Elle, what does this mean, what does you being here mean? " Aoife watched her and Elle wished she could remove the glasses, she wanted to see her eyes, she wanted to see her familiar beautiful sweet eyes.

"I lost a lot of things Aoife, I thought my family home was all I needed, but somewhere and somehow you appeared and now here I am because the thought of losing you scares me, and you haven't finished teaching me how to defend myself."

Aoife let out a burst of laughter. "You just need a free instructor, admit it."

Elle smiled back at her. "There may be that, but mostly because I miss you and...and I think I'm falling in love with you," Elle said cautiously, anxiously rubbing the back of her neck.  _I know you love me too._ "I want to be as we were." xxx

Aoife sighed sadly. "I don't think we can be, you know everything that I did, what I did to you, you think you want to, but it's just because I'm what you're used to, you are afraid of being alone."

Elle shook her head ready to object.

Aoife smiled sadly. "Yes, that's why, but you are stronger than you think you are, you can do anything you want to."

" Anything? " Elle asked.

"Yes, anything."

" Then I want you. " Elle smiled shyly.

A million things were going through Aoife's mind, she'd come here to wallow in her bloody past, punish herself for her selfishness and then Elle arrives declaring her love, like a ray of light casting its salvation down into her dark put of despair. It seemed all too good to be true.

Elle felt her cheeks grow red with apprehension, had Aoife changed her mind? Had she forgotten? "Could you say something please and put me out of my misery, I had a terrifying first plane journey to get here and I'm a little nervous."

Aoife felt her throat run dry, words wouldn't come out even though she willed them too. Where words failed her Aoife moved forward and pulled Elle into her arms breathing in the scent of her. "I thought I'd never see you again." Emotion clogged her throat and clouded her eyes.

Elle clenched her closer. "I saw you leave and I felt my heart explode, I was a little girl again watching my parents leave me, never leave me again." The tears freely fell down her cheeks rapidly, rolling down into Aoife's neck.

"I didn't want to leave you, you told me to." Aoife tried to smile but it was too much, she was battling her own onslaught of tears. "Come on it's infamously cold out here, especially this time of year let's get back to my ....wait a minute where are you staying, and where are your things?" Aoife asked suddenly looking around them for signs.

Elle blushed. "I left my bag outside this castle, and I was in such a rush to get here, I didn't arrange a place to stay I was hoping you would..." She left her sentence unfinished.

Aoife picked up Elle's hand and pulled her towards the broken door. "Come on, there is a cozy fireplace in my room you can get warm there."

" Oh, so I can't stay, do they have another room? " Elle asked quietly.

Aoife let out a laugh. "No, no other rooms, you'll have to share mine, don't worry it's got a huge bed."

Aoife had not been wrong, Elle mused as she looked around her, she'd expected a grand luxury hotel, she'd been surprised when she had arrived at a cozy little inn, situated at the heart of a small village, the rooms looked ancient and yet it was warm and beautiful.

A fire raged in the fireplace, the sound of wood spitting filled the room with a relaxing laid back mood, she felt her knees grow weak, her journey had been a long one, made even longer by her anxiety.

The door opened and Elle looked up to see Aoife return pushing tray of food and drink and a smug smile on her face. "I didn't even pay extra for the tray."

" Something smells delicious. " Elle sniffed the air, the beautiful aroma making her empty stomach groan with want.

"With your recent conversion to Veganism it was a little tricky, this is Ireland you know, anyway so luckily for you the owner really likes me and I convinced him to make you some meat and dairy free things." Aoife removed the plates and placed them on the small table in front of the fire, Elle slipped down from the chair into her space as the inviting smell of the mint green soup made her taste buds jump and dance with anticipation.

"What is this?"

" Well. " Aoife started, sitting at the other side of the table, the soft carpet a welcome cushion. "We have the traditional Irish Leek and Potato Soup, some beautifully crispy soda bread, with Asparagus Quiche without the Bacon of course, and finally the mot beautiful steamed cranberry molasses pudding."

Elle's eyes lit up at the sight, lined up on the table perfectly. "Everything looks and smells so delicious."

Aoife smiled happily, pleased that she had accomplished one deed today, making Elle happy. "Well, eat up or it will go cold."

Elle picked up her spoon and skimmed the top of the soup ignoring that Aoife had already dug in plunging a huge piece of sofa bread into her soup and eating it, Elle tested hers letting the taste sit on her tongue to savior it. The food on the plane had been gross, but this was beautiful.

"Do you come here often?" Elle asked softly.

Aoife nodded. "I've been staying here since it first opened in 1591, there used to be another inn on this site but it was demolished by the English when they ravaged the town."

Elle let her spoon fall into her bowl of soup. "Since 1591!"

Aoife nodded. "I have a loyalty card to prove it, so what's the plan?"

Elle shrugged she hadn't thought passed getting Aoife back, she hadn't done very much thinking there at all. "Maybe we could stay here for a little bit, it seems very nice."

" I have a business to run I've already been gone far too long, and I have to take a trip to Toronto for Danny, so I'm not sure we can. " Aoife watched as Elle's face fell.

"Oh, well I could just go home an.."

Aoife reached across the table to lift Elle's hand into hers. "This just means you get to see more new places, London and Toronto let's hope it's snowing and we can do some ice skating there."

Elle's eyes brightened. "I'd love that! Oh, but what will you do about Carmilla, she won't be happy."

Aoife shrugged ignoring the voice in her head. "it won't matter I doubt we'll be seeing her." 


	31. Elle In Toronto

Elle lay back on her pillow, her head supported by her arm as she looked out through the window, she'd woken up in the early hours of the morning, Aoife asleep, slipping from her arms Elle had softly crept across the floor to open the curtains.

The city by night was unlike anything, she'd become addicted to this kind of sight during their time in London, the sleeping dark covered city kept awake by the street lights and the occasional glow from a high rise building.

The sounds of the city seemed the same even though the city had changed, but still below shouts were heard and sirens played loudly as they passed by. It was oddly comforting.

She'd looked across over the land and seen stars above her and stars below, it made her feel like she was standing in the middle of a vast galaxy, a small spec of dust observing it all. When a slight moment of fear had crept into her consciousness she'd felt warm arms brace around her and she was engulfed in a comforting embrace.

Elle smiled remembering the moment, taking the risk and leaving her home to find her in Ireland had been the greatest thing she had ever done, it felt good to be in Aoife's arms, to be near her, to know she was hers and no one else's.

She turned her attention away from the large windows, the moon still hung high over the sky, he wasn't giving into the daylight just yet, Aoife lay sleeping, her mouth slightly ajar, beautiful full lips moved gently as she slept.

Elle smiled as she moved closer, fitting herself into Aoife's body and silently rejoiced when her arms wrapped around her.

"Go back to sleep," Aoife said sleepily.

Elle giggled, of all the vampires in the world she ended up with the one who slept during the night. "You should be awake." Elle teased.

Aoife did not open her eyes. "I told you, that's a tired stereotype and also how can I work if I sleep all day, society functions during the day, now sleep."

"Has our glow worn off so quickly?" Elle fained sadness. " Do you no longer want me Aoife? "

Aoife sighed, opening her eyes slightly. "Did I not prove that three times earlier?"

" A lot can happen in a few hours. " Elle shrugged.

"Nothing changed for me in a hundred years, so a few hours are hardly likely to do any damage." Aoife let out a long contented sigh as she settled back onto her pillow, taking Elle with her, settling her head on her chest. The feel of Elle's hair tickled Aoife's cheeks and neck.

"You really loved me for so long?" Elle whispered.

"Yes, from the very first moment I saw you."

Elle's heart beat faster, as it usually did when she thought on it, or when she heard Aoife confirm it, her sweet Irish voice sang like a choir of enchanted angels.

Aoife leaned back into her chair, her eyes turning to the large window covered with frost the large snowflakes fell like cold balls of frozen cotton wool from the sky.

They'd arrived in Toronto yesterday morning but with a mixture of jet lag, hunger and being in a hotel room with a very attractive woman she'd only managed to leave this morning.

Aoife smirked swiveling around in the chair, the idea that the aforementioned attractive woman was Elle and they were actually dating. _She's my girlfriend now._

The door to the office opened suddenly revealing a stunned Danny standing in the doorway. "What the hell are you doing here, I thought you weren't going to come?" Danny gasped out breathlessly her eyes blinking hard trying to convince herself she wasn't seeing things.

Aoife shrugged. "I told you I would be here."

" I know but that was before..well... " Danny stumbled over her words.

"Things progressed differently," Aoife replied. "So, with my minions hooked up to me on video chats every day, we're here for as long as we like, Elle seems to enjoy the snow."

"You are here for..no way!" Danny finally launched herself forward at her sister almost knocking her off the chair.

"Wow, hold on."

Danny blushed. "Sorry, I'm just so happy to see you."

"You won't be when you know I've come to vet your new girlfriend, how was your first date by the way?" Aoife asked freeing herself from Danny's embrace, a gentle smirk on her face. "Maybe I should ask her, what was her name again? I'll track her down, Lexa wasn't it?"

Danny's eyes bulged out of their sockets. "No, don't start that L thing with her, please Aoife I really, really like her."

Aoife smiled. "So, invite your 'friend' to dinner I'm sure Alexa will find my company utterly delightful."

"Are you already trying to steal her? If so wasn't it a bad idea to teach Elle self-defense?"

Aoife laughed loudly. "That my dear sweet sister is impossible, I went nearly two hundred years without the woman I love I'm not trading her in just yet, I'll wait till I meet your girl and make my decision." Her green eyes twinkled with mirth.

Danny rolled her eyes just as the door to her office opened again suddenly.

"Danny I was....Oh.."

Both Aoife and Danny turned to the voice at the door, Laura stood there her eyes wide with stunned shock as she took in the unexpected sight of Aoife standing in Danny's office. "Aoife, err...Sorry to interrupt I was just passing and ..."  _Carm_ _is not going to take this well at all._

Aoife shrugged. "Not at all Latoya, we were arranging something."

Laura frowned. "It's Laura."

" Is it, well thanks for reminding me Laverne I'll be sure to remember it in the future, should we ever meet again. " Aoife smiled waving her hand in the air. "Danny, I have to get going now I've promised Elle we would go to the art gallery, did you know there are places here to throw axes? really ax throwing and I thought London was mad with their jellied eels, ax throwing, and it's a sport, did they run out of darts? Anyway so naturally she wants us to do that too for some bizarre reason." Giving Danny a final embrace she left walking past Carmilla's girlfriend as though she wasn't there.

Laura shook her head. "She still has an attitude problem."

Danny smirked sitting back into her seat. "I think she does it because she knows it pisses you off."

" Well, she's a massive Tithead. "

Danny laughed. "You'd never say that to her face."

Carmilla lounged across the sofa her legs resting on the soft couch, a magazine braced in her hands, she clenched the edges roughly. "Not another movie with over emotional vampires, vampires don't cry you, dimwits." 

" I've seen you cry lots of times. " An amused voice called from the door.

"I'm a very good actress," Carmilla replied lifting her head over the magazine to see Laura, a huge box in her hands and a shy smile on her face as she edged towards the kitchen, her skittish eyes never leaving Carmilla's form on the couch. " Okay, what's happened?  and is that cake?" 

"What, I have cake." Laura avoided her question an overly fake smile on her face as she tried to cover her nervousness, she knew she had to tell Carmilla about Aoife before she found out in another way that would hurt her even more. She was trying to soften the blow with cake.

Carmilla narrowed her eyes suspiciously as she watched Laura make her way to the kitchen, opening the box she saw the top of a rich chocolate frosting. "Alright what are you not telling me?"

" Nothing. " Laura shrugged slicing two slices from the cake.

"I don't believe you."

Laura winced dreading what was to come. "So....I went to see Danny today."

Carmilla rolled her eyes. "And what is Xena doing today still saving the world?"  _What the hell does_ _Aoife_ _see in her?_

"She wasn't alone."

" Don't tell me Xena was being naughty in her office, I did not know she had it in her. " The vampire laughed, finally taking the cake, was this really what Laura had wanted to say? Something didn't feel right.

"She wasn't alone Carm," Laura said sadly. 

Caution ran down Carmilla's spine, suddenly she dreaded what Laura was about to say, she busied herself with her cake, trying to find it more interesting than it was when she poked her fork into it. "Oh yeah."

Laura nodded awkwardly swallowing hard because this was one of the hardest things she had found she would ever tell her, she knew how much Aoife meant to Carmilla the fact she was in the same city as her and acted as though she was like the other thousands of people who resided there, it was going to sting like nothing before. "Aoife was there." 

In those three words Carmilla lost her appetite, she lost the place that was near acceptance when she had returned home, acceptance that Aoife hated her, that she never wanted to see her again, it hurt too much to be rejected and vilified by someone she loved and admired so much. 

"Carm." Laura reached out. 

Carmilla slammed her plate on the counter and not caring that it shattered into tiny pieces she stormed out of the apartment, slamming the door behind her, envy and jealousy oozing from every pore of her being, she felt her stomach turn and hot tears invading her eyes. 


	32. Awkward Reunions

Aoife leaned her head against the cold glass the city below was still busy despite the late evening hour, snow blanketed the streets and car below, people move about like small igloo like creatures to Aoife's eyes, lost in the snow and coldness.

She'd never realized before how boring hotel rooms were, but without Elle to keep her preoccupied, there was seemingly nothing to do.

When she had returned home from a meeting with a potential client Elle had already gone. her sweetly scrolled out note left on the table, she'd gently run her fingertips over the page, imagining Elle's hands holding and touching it as she wrote. 

Her phone signaled the arrival of a message quickly picking it up she surveyed the screen, a forlorn and desperate message from Danny sat on her cell phone screen.

_I'm at the restaurant Lex is in the bathroom and I think I've run out of things to say, what if she's run off, leaving me here all alone._

Aoife rolled her eyes swiftly typing out more worldly wisdom she'd forwarded the last ten times she had texted her something similar. "Stop worrying and just enjoy your date, she returned the last time she went so chill out."

She sent the message with a little smile and returned to her boredom, picking up her glass of red liquid and drinking from it, all around the city she saw Christmas lights beginning to form scattering

Elle had left a few hours ago, a strange odd friendship had grown between her and Laura, the idea had initially and still did alarm Aoife, she didn't want to be this closely associated with Carmilla, but if their girlfriends became close what else could happen.

She was torn, happy that Elle had a friend and unhappy that the friend had to be Carmilla's newest love interest. 

Her phone went off again, rolling her eyes she picked it back up and checked the screen. 

_She's still not back._

Aoife chuckled at her sister's anxiousness; she hadn't thought that maybe her date was nervous too, second dates were sometimes even more difficult than first ones, at least then there was no expectations, nothing to aspire to be. 

She fired off another reply. "Just wait, she will be back, stop worrying, maybe she has constipation or diarrhea or something like that." 

She waited for the reply she knew would return promptly. 

 _Eww, I'm not sure I want to stay now._  

Aoife laughed loudly. "Woman up and get a grip," Aoife said out loud to the phone as though Danny could hear her. 

Danny sent another. _OMG, She's coming back._

"I told you." 

Another text came.

_Hello!!!!!!!!! Babyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. Lots if kisses cause I love you!!!!!!!! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx._

"Great, she's drunk." Aoife sighed. 

_You gotta come and get me coz I maybe, may have drunk too much, only a little bit though._

Aoife shook her head. "I guess my night of boredom is over."Why can't the woman in my life me normal? For just one day, they would all be normal, not neurotic drunks who decide to be friends with certain girlfriends of other crazy women I try to forget."

"I said let me in you dimwit!"

Aoife cringed at the sound of the voice that carried loudly above the chaos of the street; the crowd lined up patiently waiting to be allowed entry to the bar.

"Like I said luv' you ain't coming in." A determined Londoner replied, his gruff uncouth demeanor only spurred Carmilla on more.

"It's you aren't coming in, why can't you speak properly?"

Aoife rolled her eyes and fought the urge to run, why did she think it was a good idea to teach him proper grammar now? Carmilla always did have a bizarre way to pick her fights.

In the past it had usually ended with Aoife solving them, excusing her stubbornness and going to battle for her, that was not going to happen this time, there was no way in hell.

"Same reason you can't move your ass away from me." The doorman replied with a dismissive laugh.

"Move, or I'll serve you your spleen on toast!" Carmilla threatened, but she was so tiny compared to her giant foe he only laughed.

"I already told ya' darlin' this is not a Lesbian BDSM club, no leather pants." 

"And I told you it's none of your business what I wear; I'm meeting someone." 

"Yeah, luv' listen, you ain't meeting your sub here." 

"And I already told you to move, or I'd reach inside you and pull out your stomach!" 

 _Oh for fuck's sake, why must she make a scene?_  Aoife blew out a frustrated sigh inevitably making her way towards the scene, Elle was inside, and she had to go past this hell to get to her. _The things I do for love._

"Move." No one got in the way of a badass Vampire with a scowl like the one being displayed by Aoife as she made her way to the entrance of the bar, the doorman stood aside for her as he turned to be faced with her, his face pale and his teeth chattered.

Carmilla starred her mouth agape as she watched the crowd part as though they were welcoming Jesus back from the dead, she watched her sister calmly walk inside, rage began to build up inside her, why was it fair she got to go in?

"Hey, Jumping Jack flash she's my sister if she gets to go in so do I." Camilla pointed ahead of her as the cause of her recent heartbreak stopped in her tracks.

"She clearly isn't your biggest fan luv'." He chuckled. 

The doorman's knees trembled as he Aoife turned her killer ice cold green eyes back to him, swiftly and without a word she glared at him, her message loud and clear.

He all but grabbed hold of Carmilla and in his fear threw her inside the bar, the crowd seeing the action hissed and bowed, they had to wait while this one had jumped the queue, Aoife turned her cool gaze to them and in an instant under her gaze they stopped.

"Thanks," Carmilla said shyly.

" Don't mention it. " Aoife coldly dismissed marching ahead as fast as she could without knocking anyone over. 

Elle found her before Aoife had ever spotted her two arms wrapped around her body and held her tightly, a strange sniffing sound entered her ears. "Are you sniffing me?" 

Elle blushed burying her face into the warming comfort of Aoife's body. "Yep."

"Oh, okay, just wondering."  _See crazy. Crazy but sweet._

"So you two are together." An unimpressed voice spot behind her as a blur ran past Aoife, and Carmilla found herself doubling backward as Laura burst into her arms in the same fashion as Elle had done to Aoife moments ago. 

Elle lifted her unfocused gaze up to Aoife. "This is your Lateisha's fault," Aoife spoke dryly as she watched Elle's complexion turn a beige green. 

"I think...I'm going to be sick." 

"Me too!" Laura joined. 

"Her name is Laura," Carmilla said sternly holding her girlfriend. 

"Whatever, they think you are a dom, heaven knows what that bouncer is going to think when he sees you carrying her out of the bar like that. "Aoife chuckled devilishly. 

"This isn't funny," Carmilla said her dark brown eyes shooting deep accentuated flames at the woman. 

"I think it's hilarious." Aoife laughed again, her pale face turning a shade of red as she laughed, lost in her own amusement as she jiggled her body, Elle who was still pressed up against her seeking comfort felt her stomach turn, a seasickness type feeling overtaking her as the room spun with the movement of Aoife's body.

Without warning Elle threw up the contents of her stomach all down Aoife's shirt, gasping she stepped back looking gingerly up at her lover's unimpressed face, tears in her strained eyes. "I'm sorry." 

It wasn't Elle being sick that annoyed Aoife, it was the incessant laughter from Carmilla that really tried her patience. "Grow up."

Carmilla fell over herself laughing, her stomach ached she laughed with such harsh aggression, but while she was busy being amused by Aoife's predicament she did not notice Laura, nor did she notice when she bent forward and did the same all over her feet. 

"Oops." Laura wiped her mouth with her hand. 

"Not laughing anymore huh?" Aoife challenged, returning her sister's amusement tenfold with a look of utter victory in her eyes. 


	33. Ghosts Of The Past

Aoife spread a thin layer of strawberry jello onto her piece of toast her focus on the woman in front of her who had spent the last hour coming in and out of the bedroom each time with a different outfit on. 

Mornings alone had always been filled with quick morning breakfast stops in coffee shops so she didn't have to sit down and think for too long, eaten and drank over her office desk in whatever country she was in at that moment in time. Now since Elle had come along sitting down and enjoying time with someone who wanted to be there with her made her look forward to the time. 

It made her happy to watch Elle's busy hectic morning schedule, even today when Aoife had told her to pick what she should wear the night before. 

Yet Elle had managed to find a way to distract her. 

Aoife wouldn't have minded but having to watch Elle flit in and out quickly, sometimes not when standing to ask how she looked or if Aoife liked what Elle was wearing, it was jarring.

"What about this?" Elle asked her voice full of overexcited energy that was a little exhausting.

Aoife dragged her eyes down her girlfriend's body, from her top that seemed to show a little too much cleave to her skimpy jeans. "Well, I..."

"No, no this won't do." Elle shrieked as she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror running back into the bedroom.

Aoife sat her mouth open cut off from her original sentence by an errant crazy girlfriend who had decided to wake up and lose her mind.

Elle ran back into the room. "Do you think I should wear this pink top or this red top?" She held up the two shirts in question.

"Well, I thi...."

"No your right both are really wrong," Elle answered herself interrupting Aoife as she again ran back into the room.

"Glad I could help," Aoife grumbled under her breathtaking a bite from her now a cold slice of toast. Grimacing at the hard cold food she discarded it onto her plate.

She'd dreaded this day ever since Elle had rushed home and told her about it, after their drunken night out Elle and Laura had become the firmest of friends and now Laura has invited a very over excited Elle to her workplace.

Aoife didn't want Elle getting close to Carmilla's girlfriend because then it would mean that Aoife herself would be forced to spend time with Carmilla, and that was something she really didn't want to do. At all, ever.

"Hey Elle, when are you done with this city cause I'm getting a little angsts here, we've been here for a while as it is," Aoife called out.

"Don't be silly it's amazing here, and Laura says that there may be a spot on the team for me," Elle called out from the other room her voice muffled as she stood inside the closet. "Fudge, not long ago I had no clothes now I have too much, can you believe it?"

Stepping unsteadily out from the closet backward random clothes in her hands and over her shoulders, she stumbled and fell back into waiting arms.

"Oh hi, babe." Elle smiled looking up into Aoife's unamused face.

"What do you mean a place on the team?"

"Oh, yeah I didn't tell you about that," Elle said straightening herself up.  _I didn't say it cause I knew you'd freak out._

"Tell me now." Aoife lifted an arched eyebrow.

Elle gulped. "You know that vein in your forehead is showing again, it's so pretty. I'm so lucky to have a girlfriend as beautiful as you Aoife."

"You think I am so easily distracted?"

"Err... Id hopes you would be, but I guess you aren't."

"So tell me," Aoife repeated.

Elle rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. "Last week Laura asked me to join her team, I showed her some of my writings and she really liked them and she wants me to go and work for her channel as a story writer or something."

Aoife purses her lips. "I see."

"You said I could do anything I wanted, you said I should be who I wanted to be." Elle explored.

Aoife nodded regretting her own words were now coming back to haunt her with such disastrous results. "I did say those things."  _What does this mean for us?_

"So I want to do them and I'm really excited for this Aoife."

Aoife wanted to cry, she wanted to scream things had been so wonderful and now she was hit with this. There only seemed to be three options, to break up, to have a long distance relationship or move and live in the same city as Carmilla. None of the options seemed to flow with gold for the vampire.

"What are you thinking?" Elle asked softly, Aoife's quiet calm was often alarming especially when Elle was used to seeing the woman slip from behind her mask and be herself. Elle hates when Aoife would let the mask rise across her face again and she became lost behind an unloveable mask.

"You should wear the pink," Aoife said quietly almost robotically, she wanted to run Why was she being kept here? It was becoming unfair and cruel.

"Oh, okay thank you....you know Laura says that you and Carmilla are victims of circumstance and that..."

Aoife turned cold green eyes back upon the smaller woman. "It's nice that Lupita and yourself are getting so close."

"Her name is Laura and you know it, stop being so grumpy." Elle smiled warmly, Aoife turned away she had that smile right now, it was the same smile that continued to melt her heart. "You are in Ms. Grouch mood because you will have to live so near a certain sister and you hate the idea."

"I am in Ms. Grouch mood as you put it because you keep talking about Ms. Lupus Delightful and it's really annoying me." Aoife bit back.

"I just think that it would be healthy for you to sit down and talk with her."

"I thought you hated her," Aoife said almost on the verge of anger, the subject was far too raw for her still.

Elle chuckled running on her bare top toes to her grumpy vampire beauty. "I did, but I changed my mind because I found someone to distract me with something better than hate."

"Nice, can they give their resignation?" Aoife smirked trying to hide the way that damn sweet smile charmed her every time.

"Nope, they are stuck." Elle grinned pulling Aoife's face close to hers as their lips met in a kiss. "You're stuck with me, I'm not letting you go again."

Elle felt the cold breeze flow through the open side window and meet her face. It was different being in a car with Aoife and being in one with someone else.

Aoife always had a way of making her feel at ease, sometimes being in a car still felt weird and strange being used to horse and cart was always unusual to be in something so high speed.

She and Laura had been heading to the home of the newest billionaire in the city, and Laura was making it her mission to claim the first interview with him.

"What is Aoife doing? I can't believe she actually allowed you to come." Laura chuckled. 

Elle frowned. "Aoife doesn't control me, she would never do that, she really dislikes you but she respects my choices, she is trying to track down Danny's girlfriend, she says she is the eldest so she is doing her job inspecting the woman just in case." 

"Always good to know." Laura shrugged.  _Why do I feel very left out of this investigation?_

"So who is this Niklas Berglund?" Elle asked changing the subject quickly. 

"Well, they say he's mysterious and dark no one knows anything about him, us getting an exclusive interview today is huge and will be so good for us professionally." Laura smiled as she pulled up spender the traffic lights. "Soo did you tell Aoife about the job?"

Elle nodded, she knew Aoife wasn't happy, but she really wanted this job it sounded so wonderful and just What Aoife has told her to do. Then she also loved Aoife and didn't want to upset her. Elle felt torn. "She's not really very happy about it."

"Ahh because of the whole Carm thing." Laura nodded knowingly.

"Because is the whole Carm thing." Elle agreed. "I want to take it, and I know she won't stop me, but I don't want to hurt her being anywhere near Carmilla Really wounds her she won't say it but it does."

"Yeah Carmilla is the same, but she's trying to be all cool about it, she thinks I don't hear her crying every night." Laura agreed sadly, she hated that she couldn't help her girlfriend listening to the woman she loved cry was heartbreaking.

"Aoife just won't talk about it, she spends her time with Danny. She's trying to smoke out her new girlfriend."

Laura felt anger boil inside her. "This is what makes Carmilla so angry and sad."

"Aoife isn't happy though, she thinks I don't see the long empty sighs," Elle said sadly, the first few times she'd seen it she had wondered whether it had been her and that her lover was dissatisfied or wanted out, but as it happened more Elle had begun to realize if Aoife wanted to leave she would there was something missing that was making Aoife forlorn and suddenly she knew what it was.

An idea suddenly began to form in her head, people worked together to get people together all of the time, how would it be so bad if she and Elle worked together to get Aoife and Carmilla back together as sisters? "You know we could help them." Laura smiled sneakily.

"How do you mean, help them?" Elle asked, she had an idea what Laura meant but she didn't know what she fully had in mind.

Laura turned to face her a smirk across her lips. "Only we can help them now. I say we trick them and make them spend time together."

"To force them to talk." Elle finished.

"And resolve their differences," Laura added.

"In a place, they can't escape, wait that won't work Aoife can pass through walls she never uses it but she can do it." Elle rememberers the one time that Aoife had used it, it had been quite alarming to suddenly find Aoife standing there in the darkened room.

"Why is she so annoying?" Laura sighed. "Look we are almost at our destination, after this interview we'll go for a coffee and form a plan of attack, they will never see it coming." Laura laughed wickedly.

As they pulled up in front of the gates of what looked like an old gothic mansion, both women gulped down their apprehension as the gates creaked open suddenly by their own design and moved to move away to guarantee them safe admission inside the meandering driveway that led up to the entrance of the house. 

"Really wishing I'd brought Aoife now," Elle whispered paranoid that something or someone could hear them speak. 

"No, don't be silly." Laura laughed anxiously. "I'm sure this is fine, he's just bought it and hasn't had a chance to do it up, look at Aoife with your place."

Elle set wide eyes on her companion. "You don't sound so sure?" 

"Err..yeah I'm just trying to woman up."

How is that working out?" Elle asked genuinely interested to get tips for herself, something felt strange here and the closer they drew to the house the more intense it became. 

"I'll tell you later."

"When your hands have stopped shaking perhaps." 


	34. The unfriendly Vampire

The giant heavy old iron and wood oak door slowly scraped open, its hinges aching in protest as it journeyed open.

Laura arched an eyebrow feeling her heartbeat accelerate at full speed, the eerie feeling of apprehension had only grown stronger since she and Elle had gotten out of the car, and knocked the door.

"Do we just go in?" Elle whispered, her feet itched, her brain telling her to run, run away as fast as she could and find Aoife, wrap herself into her arms and make sure she never let go.

Laura widened her eyes with indecision, opening her mouth to speak when suddenly a figure appeared from the darkened hallway.

Laura recognized him at once, a tall brooding figure, the shadows casting his face half in darkness, strange amber eyes watched them with a look that couldn't be defined but definitely was not anything good. His large masculine hand came up, a smile curving across his full pale pink lips. "You must be Ms.  Hollis it is pleasure to meet you." An old crisp accent curled up upon every letter.

Laura gave him her hand reluctantly where he proceeded to lean forward and kiss her hand. Dragging her hand back her cheeks burned red.

"I am Niklas." He smiled at the other woman offering his hand to her too.

Elle frowned in disgust. "No thank you, Sir, I have someone to kiss my hand already."

Laura rolled her eyes.  _I wish I'd have thought of that before he kissed mine._ "Anyway, Mr.."

"Call me Niklas, two beautiful ladies like yourself must always say my name, I like to hear a beautiful woman have my name on their tongue." Niklas grinned, his big dark eyebrows cut thickly across his forehead almost joining at the entrance. He was so close now Elle could make out each individual hair.

"That won't be necessary," Elle said firmly, the man was far too forward in his advances for her liking.

"My colleague is right, we will get our interview underway so that we may be on our way." Laura agreed.

Something shifted in the man's eyes. "Of course, please come inside it is quite cold out is it not?"

Without further instruction, Niklas moved back to let the two women in through the door, with a leering look outside he closed the door shut and with smug sneering purpose followed closely behind the two women.

The lounge room he had directed them to was as worn and tattered as the rest of the house they had seen, the old paper still hung on the wall and hung tattered from its position like scaly diseased skin.

The chairs looked dusty and decrepit Laura And Elle exchanged worried glances. "I'm really wishing Perry were here right now," Laura whispered.

"I'm still sticking with Aoife, he is creepy." Elle reaffirmed. "She would protect me."

"We don't need protecting Elle, we are here for the interview nothing will happen." Laura tried to settle her friend's nerves.

Niklas crept behind them slithering like a ballet banding snake, so silent and soft neither Laura nor Elle heard him until they felt his breath on their cheeks.

Both women jumped at his nearness. Turning to face him in alarm. 

"Now ladies, let's talk about how you are going to help me finally get my revenge." He smiled sinisterly, fangs pointed sharply as he lurked closer, his shadow casting an eerie image of the wall. 

Laura and Elle huddled closer to each other, swallowing hard. "Something tells me he isn't a friendly vampire." Laura squealed with caution. 

"You are just figuring that one out?" Elle asked, never taking her eyes from the menacing man still advancing on them. 

How was I to know he was some murderous creepy vampire dude?" Laura defended herself. 

Niklas laughed shrilly his now thick accent dripping with hate and intent. "I am amused you do not know who I am."

"Whoever you are you have wicked tuna breath." Laura fanned the air with her hand in disgust, while Elle nodded in agreement.

Dark thick eyebrows furrowed intently. "I seek revenge on the one who ruined my love and parted us forever, sending my sweet dear one into a pile of dust on the ground." 

Elle frowned. "I sense this one is yours Laura, seems like a Carmilla move."

"Hey!" Laura protested. "Can you stop condemning my girlfriend, she has never turned anyone into dust on the ground." 

"Aoife hasn't." Elle shrugged her shoulders confidently. 

Niklas growled low deep in his throat, frustrated and already irritated by the women's interplay. He had what he needed now, he's spent months planning, ever since a henchman had come to him and told him that Carmilla Karnstein and Aoife Drugain were back in Austria. Then all he had to do was trail them until he found them settled and then set up his bait. Ms. Laura Hollis had jumped on it like a kamikaze trout. 

"Listen carefully there is no way out for you, I am going to show Karnstein what it feels like to lose someone she loves, to watch as they are stolen away bit by bit."

"Is he planning on chopping you up?" Elle asked Laura quietly. 

"Can you stop giving him suggestions?" Laura asked alarmed. 

Elle shrugged. "Hello Sir, I see you are engaged, I would like to state that Carmilla doesn't care for me, and nor I her, so I think I should leave and you can have the one she really does care for. That would hurt a lot less." 

Laura turned her disbelieving blue eyes onto her friend, suddenly regretting offering her a job if she was so willing to throw her under the bus of a serial killing vampire with a massive grudge. "What are you doing?" Laura whispered. 

"If I can get out I can go and get help to save you." 

"Oh."

Niklas laughed loudly. "Oh, my poor little dears, you think Aoife Drugain is innocent in this. That damn bitch murdered my brothers, You will be slain too." 

"She's not so perfect now is she." Laura mocked. 

"Oh shut up, we are more important things to worry about, we need to start thinking as adult women." 

"Oh come on, how can she not know by now?" Aoife shouted at the screen her arms moving wildly about her, having a whole morning spent in a Skype meeting with her board members Aoife had decided to hook up some Xena Warrior Princess to the tv and relax. "It's love, pure love, she's jealous Gabrielle, she's jealous!" The vampire shouted across at the screen cupping her hands over her mouth as though the characters would eat her and heed her advice. They hadn't done it so far.

Jealous was an emotion Aoife recognized well, she'd spent a hell of a long time emerged in such a sea of emotions.

She'd reluctantly bid farewell to Elle that morning and had spent her time trying not to worry, she wanted her to hate it so they wouldn't have to stay. Yet, she wanted her to do what her heart desired if Elle truly did see a future for herself in this city then that would mean Aoife had one there too.

Taking a mouthful of her glass she leaned back and pulled out her cell phone, nothing from Elle and wanting to hear her voice but not wanting to interrupt her on what essentially her first day at work. Aoife pulled up their messages. A smile creasing her lips as she read over their sweet interactions.

 _AOIFE-Love you too, good luck sweetly._ 💕💕

 _ELLE-Luv you bye_ 😘😘

 _AOIFE-Are_   _you_   _sure_   _you_   _have_   _to_   _go_   _to_   _work,_   _you_   _don't_   _want_   _to_   _stay_   _with_   _me_   _and_   _I_   _will_   _make_   _you_   _a_   _special_   _breakfast_   _in_   _bed?_  😏

 _ELLE-Stop_   _distractingly_   _me_   _I_   _need_   _to_   _be_   _professional_   _not_   _thinking_   _about...._   _that. 😳_

 _AOIFE-I_   _am_   _counting_   _the_   _hours_   _until_   _you_   _are_   _home_   _with_   _me,_   _just_   _the_   _two_   _of_   _us_   _together_   _all_   _alone I can show you then just how much I really do miss you. 😘😏😘_

_ELLE-Stop complaining, don't you have employees to scare?_

_AOIFE-I miss you, I want you here with me, I'm lonely. 😢😢_

_ELLE-Stop messaging me and distracting me with your adorable face. Also, stop trying to get intel on Danny's girlfriend, she's hiding her for a reason. 😜😜😜_

_AOIFE-I'm sending a clip to show you how sad I am, how can you say no to my sad smile? You are just mean and horrible._

Aoife grinned at her teasing intercourse with her girlfriend, still, the thought was too crazy, too wonderful and insanely magnificent. Elle Sheridan was her girlfriend, she knew everything about her and yet she had chosen to forgive her and they were beginning a life together. 

Soon a dark thought emerged, the same dark thought that often crept into her mind when happiness was too prominent in her heart, as though she was not used to positivity and needed to manufacture sadness and decay within her. 

Yet the thought was only Aoife being realistic, one day she would lose Elle again, she would have to live longer without the hope that she would ever find her again. The dark cloud of hatred climbed over her again, it's grizzly grasping slimy craws holding her in its revolting grasp that she could never break free from its oppressive intent. Her eyes strayed to the screen again, Gabrielle had to say goodbye to her 'friend' too, suddenly Aoife hated it, she grabbed a hold of the remote control roughly and switched it off, the glass in her hand felt like a dead weight in her hold. 

Immortality had been a curse ever since she had first set eyes on Elle Sheridan, she didn't want it, she wanted to breathe in the fresh air and feel her heartbeat, she wanted to hold Elle and have the other woman feel her warmth, feel the beat of her heart as it tapped against her chest, doing it's happy dance as it basked in Elle's nearness. Aoife didn't want to be a walking dead creature of the night that felt nothing and did even less. 

And yet Aoife had felt for Elle, she still felt for Elle. Her sweet smile brightened up her dull grey existence and became the sun and the moon, so pivotal to her existence was she Aoife knew that being  without her now would not ever be an option, that was why despite her hatred of the idea of staying in the same city so close to Carmilla she would stay for Elle. 

Suddenly a thunderous thumbing at the door made her swiftly jump from her seat on the couch, avoiding throwing the red contents of her glass over a plush cream expensive carpet. Hissing Aoife left the glass safely on the table. 

"Whoever this is be prepared when I open this door you will be dying!" Aoife promised as she swung open the door. "Well, who would have thought I would be killing you, let me just get my stake." 

Carmilla rolled her eyes if she had a heartbeat she was sure it would be pounding a mile a minute. "Quite the smart mouth crap, you hate me I know, but I don't care he has Laura!" 

Aoife frowned, an alarm was beginning to hit her, Elle was with Laura. "What do you mean? Who has Laura, and Elle was with Laura." Her suspicious green eyes taking in her sister's haggard rough appearance, yet her sister had never been so well put together. Even while dancing with the height of society in the eighteenth century Vienna Carmilla had always looked out of place. Oddly it had always been her charm. 

"Niklas, Niklas has them both!" 

"What the fuck have you done now?" 


	35. The Vampire King

"If he touches one hair on her head I will make sure I see you in a pile of dust on the ground beneath my feet!" Aoife seethed, so angry her teeth gnarled and clenched.

It had only been a half an hour since Aoife had opened her hotel room door and found herself in a new kind of hell. In that time she's not woken up from a nightmare or a really realistic daydream.

Aoife was stuck in a new kind of hell.

"What about Laura, you think I would ever hurt her?" Carmilla shouted back at her sister.

"I don't care about Lorna BeGood, I care about Elle and only Elle." Aoife pointed angrily her eyes rounded with a dark ring of ominous gloom and shadow. Carmilla could only remember one time and one time only when she had seen her sister like this or anywhere near it. Carmilla knew one thing. Niklas ..... had committed his last deed, this wasn't even Aoife being her angriest she could be. This wasn't even Aoife being her meanest she could be.

This was effectively the calm before the storm. Carmilla may not have been in her sister's life for a long time but there was one thing that would never change, for the ones she loved she fought with a fierce determination.

Carmilla sighed sadly, at one time that had been her Aoife had fought for, who she'd killed for. Now she hated her.

"Find his address now, the bastard has done this because of you!" Aoife shouted clenching her fists and holding in her vast mounting anger with increasingly difficult restraint.

Carmilla's mind seemed to explode, Laura had told her where but she hadn't been listening. Instead, her head had been filled with envy and jealousy images of Aoife and Danny hanging out, doing sister things while Aoife continued to hate her. Maybe they even laughed about her and joked, she was sure they did that. "I didn't hear her say it."

"You what!" Aoife shouted launching herself at her sister and picking her up by the scruff of her shirt. "You better start to hear it because I swear to you if anything happens to Elle I will be killing you, there will be nowhere that you can run that I will not find you, no hole you can crawl in, no tiny island you can creep around. I will find you!"

Carmilla rolled her eyes, pushing Aoife away. "Yeah, yeah save the Charles Bronson routine for the vampire king."

"I'm not joking."

"Nor am I, you think I'm not angry with myself? You think I wish I'd listened now I don't know what to do because I don't know where they are and if I lose her Aoife I have no one left and she's all I have, the only person.." Carmilla trailed off choking on her words and tears erupted from her eyes and her face turned red, the veins in her neck stood out aggressively as she sobbed. Her dark eyes beseeching her sister to be as she had always been, to be able to create miracles and find out where they were.

Aoife purses her lips feeling awkward, instinct told her to do one thing and yet she willed herself to not. Forcing her self to stay still she braces her arms over her chest and played her hard act. "Alright stop crying Peggy Sue, there must be a way of finding out where they went. Does your little Lolita keep a work diary or schedule?"

"On her cell phone." Carmilla sobbed.

"Oh for...see this is why the tech age is screwing us all, Everything is on our damn cell phones and we carry them with us everywhere." Aoife threw her arms up in the air. "She must have some kind of diary on her computer?"

"I don't know."

Aoife rolled her eyes impatiently. "Get in the car, we'll go to one of her colleague's places, not the idiot guy though, he's a sandwich short of a picnic he'll point us in the direction of the North Pole."

Carmilla nodded suddenly sensing a spark Of hope, of course, Mel would know where Laura had gone, if anyone knew it would be her.

_Drip, drip, drip, drop._

_Drip, drip, drip, drop._

The sound of drops of water echoed around them, with the dark dank dungeon being cast in utter darkness save for a few candles it was impossible to know where the noise or the leak was coming from.

_Drip, drip, drip, drop._

In the middle of this depressive state was Laura and Elle, both tied to chairs that were somehow attached to the concrete ground. Laura shifted her hands behind her back again, they would not budge.

"I still can't believe you said that," Laura growled.

Elle rolled her eyes. "I told you it was so I could go and get help, there is no point in both of us being stuck here who will know where to find us?"

"You really think Aoife can save us from this?" Laura asked sadly. "I'm not even sure Carm could, this guy is a freak."

A devilish laugh echoed from the bottom of the hallway leading to their cell, "Your voices carry my dears." Niklas said his voice smooth and sickly as he appeared. "Let's just say I'm sure if your lady loves care anything for you they will arrive and that will be my time to act."

"When Aoife gets here your going to be drinking through a straw!" Elle threatened.

"Psst, Elle the guy drinks blood I'm not sure that's a threat to him," Laura whispered.

"I have spent centuries planning my revenge, plotting the time I would finally get even with the two bitches who ruined my life and took away my family." Niklas hissed zoning in ominously close to the two incapacitated women. "You are fools to think they will leave here alive, I will make them watch as I slowly kill you two peasant humans and then it will be their turn."

Laura And Elle swallowed hard.

"Err excuse me one moment we do not consent to be used in such a way," Laura said with a determined face, her eyebrows drawn together.

Elle nodded.

Niklas grinned slowly. "My dears, no one ever consented to be murdered that is why it is called murder, those revolting reptiles did not ask my beloved nor my brothers before they massacred them."

"Hey!" Laura protested. "Those are our reptiles you are talking about."

Elle frowned chancing a confused glance at Laura.  _What the..._

"Drugain the little rat she came into my stronghold and massacred in cold blood.." Niklas said angrily, his teeth ground loudly as he clenched them together. "One by one she did not care for the river of blood flowed through my castle."

"You shouldn't have kidnapped Carmilla!" Laura replied firmly.

In a split second, Niklas slammed his hand harshly down upon the broken crumbling desk that stood randomly beside him, as he did the wood splintered and shattered leaving a ragged hole where his fist had landed. Launching himself across at Laura he pushed her chair back into its back legs and leaned over her, spitting his words at her. "She stole my wife and murdered her, I defend what is mine!"

"Err Yeah, say it don't spray it that's just gross." Laura cringed. "My girlfriend has never found it hard to attract attention, your wife was probably bored of your spit showers and decided to go for an attractive face," Laura said smugly her head leaning back as far as she could. "Let's face it she is very attractive."

Niklas growled bearing his fangs. "Enough, you speak too much be more like your friend the mouse."

Elle blinked back the indignation she felt at his insult, it was just as she had felt in her youth before her death. No one spoke they just saw a mouse a quiet soft spoken mouse who read too much and dream a lot.

A bolt of loneliness so familiar to her heart filled her again. Was she wrong to believe she admiringly in Aoife? Was this what her second chance had all been about, for it to be violently ended just as her first life.

"Must be why Drugain keeps you around, can't be for the conversation," Niklas smirked smugly.

"I will have you know that my relationship has nothing to do with you and when she arrives I will enjoy watching her thrust her eight-inch stiletto heel up your ass hole!" Elle said angrily her face turning red and her body straining against her confines.

"Nice one Elle, Yeah stiletto up your ass hole!" Laura chanted. "All is forgiven Elle that is a brilliant line."

"Thank you." Elle blushed.

Aoife cringed as she looked around her. "This place would make the Addams family cringe." 

"Why don't you like her? You never even tried to be nice to her you have been rude about her from the first moment you met her." Carmilla persisted.

"Let it go." Aoife brushed off the smaller woman's question as they crept around the hallways and crevices of Niklas's old decrepit castle.

They'd got the information they needed from Mel but had not told her why they needed the info, Aoife had wanted to contain the madness to a limited amount of space. Although Carmilla had fought for telling Mel and adding to their numbers Aoife had been concerned for getting more people into danger.

She'd regretted her decision the moment Carmilla he began to hound her with questions, ones that Aoife did not want to answer and had no idea where to start because whenever she saw her sister start to cry she was inflicted the most intense impulse to throw her arms around Carmilla and hold her tight. Guard Carmilla from the horrors and the pains, as she had tried to do.

"No, I won't!" Carmilla said sternly grabbing Aoife by her arm and pulling her back. "I will not because you know she's so much like you, you wouldn't know because you've never asked her anything about herself but she fought against a higher power, just like you did, she used her heart to define how she should act just like you did. Hell Aoife she's incredibly like you."

Aoife shook away Carmilla's arm. "We do not have time for this Mircalla, get a move on."

"No, tell me why. Why you won't forgive me why you can't treat me as you used to?" Carmilla pleaded holding a firm grasp onto Aoife's arm.

For a moment Aoife remained silent Carmilla saw a strange twinkle of wetness form in her eyes until quite suddenly it was gone and a stern expression returned to her face. "I think I can hear them, of course, this idiot kept them in the dungeon, he was a freak then and he still is now."

With purpose Aoife marched away and left her sister behind, any moment for talk gone and with it the last bit of hope that Carmilla would ever have that she could get even a fraction of her sister back.

Turning the corner Aoife came face to face with Elle and Laura, gags over their mouths and tied up on two rickety old chairs that had seen their best days clearly during the reign of King Leir and now cling to life by sheer willpower alone.

Elle's eyes shot open when she saw Aoife standing in the doorway, clad in leather and with her trusty sword Sorcha in her hand. Yet Aoife did not know that Niklas lurked in the shadows waiting.

"I just walked into a damn cobweb." Carmilla stayed as she appeared her hands draining around her head trying to remove the spider webs that had attached themselves to her.

Aoife rolled her eyes. "Niklas I know you are there stop hiding and show yourself, I'm bored and pretty angry if anyone gets to tie my girlfriend up it will be me."

The vampire stepped from the darkness a sneer cut cruelty across his lips as he took in the two new arrivals. "Ladies how lovely to see you, such a shame you came here to watch me kill your amores." He pointed his boney pale fingers at the two tied up women, long grotesque fingernails filled with dirt and dried blood marked his intent. "Which one is who's?"

"You so.."

Aoife pulled her sister back by the scruff of her leather jacket cutting off her words. "Excuse my sister she does not use her brain well."

Carmilla glared at Aoife.

"Now Your Maj, What is going to happen here is pretty simple, I am going to untie my girlfriend, and little Lucy Lane here and if you want to have a nice quiet no violent second death then you will not stand in my way, I am very tired of the bullshit that has been in my life recently and I'm looking forward to a peaceful time for once."

Without warning, Carmilla burst forward pushing past Aoife before Aoife could pull her back and launched herself at the vampire as she did he easily pulled her into a fierce harsh choke hold.

Niklas let out a loud cruel laugh. "Wow, this turned out much better than I thought it would." Running his disgustingly grotesque fingernail down Carmilla's slim neck he licked his lips as he raised his eyes to Aoife. "Interesting turn of events."

"Dammit, why do you never listen?" Aoife hissed at her sister who struggled in Niklas's hold.

Laura pushes and tries to jump from the hold her restrains on the chair had, despite its appearance of fragility the chair held firm.

"Wait a minute," Niklas said with a smile Aoife dreaded. "Let's have some fun." Dragging Carmilla behind Laura And Elle he let his other hand gently caress Elle's face. "Yes this one is yours, I can tell by the twitch in your eye."

"Touch her again and you'll be losing a limb." Aoife threatened.

"What you need to worry about is my ultimatum, Well it's more of a little game. You chose Drugain, Carmilla here, or your plain Jane, whoever you chose gets to live, whoever you don't you get to watch die so who will it be?"

The silence stretched through the room as all eyes suddenly turned to Aoife.

_Stupid vampire why will she never listen to me? This always happens and she still never fucking listens to me, this is all her fault anyway that we are here if she had kept it in her pants, in the beginning, we wouldn't be here now, his wife wasn't even attractive she had a strange spooky eye._

"Just do it Aoife, make the choice," Carmilla said more than a hint of sadness in her voice, what difference did it make anyway Aoife hated her.

Aoife watched her sister, she followed the point where Niklas held her, his debauched hands touching her as though he had every right in the world. After a moment Aoife moved her gaze down to Elle, her eyes held a fear, a fear that made Aoife feel sick to her core, her Elle was hurting. Aoife pretended to ignore Laura's shaking head clearly convinced she would choose one way for sure.

"Well, your sister or your lover." Niklas coaxed his slimy tongue escaping from his cruel cave-like mouth and slip along Carmilla's cheek as she cringed I'm disgust.

Aoife pursed her lips. "I have made my choice."

"Good who is it?"

Aoife looked at Carmilla with stone like eyes. "I choose Elle."

A gasp of horror filled the room.

Niklas smirked."How lovely, but oh not for you, my dear." Niklas mocked Carmilla as she let out a stray tear, Aoife had really made her choice and it would end in her demise.

Aoife let out an amused laugh still looking at her sister. "Do you think I would come here without being prepared? Come now you know me better." Aoife lifted an eyebrow hoping that Carmilla remembered after such a long time.

It happened too fast, too fast that Laura And Elle watched in disbelief expecting a mercy killing for her sister by Aoife, she'd reached down into the strap hidden inside her boot and pulled out a strange dagger, in moments that weapon was flying across the room and at the last second Carmilla ducked as best she could and the dagger landed straight into Niklas's chest penetrating his heart.

Empty vapid eyes stared down at the dagger buried deep, too deep. pushing Carmilla forward he tried to pull the weapon out with his hands but the more he did the more blood poured out.

"I wouldn't bother if I were you," Aoife advised as she dragged Carmilla firmly away from the villain. "That's a special one, mother always told me to keep it for a special moment."  _The one bit of advice that was actually good._

"You bitch!"

"Now now, language. Incidentally, it was mother who turned your delightful other half into dust particles." Aoife said with a smug smile. "You can be the King my friend but I never did care for the oppression of kings."


	36. Sisters

The vampire king shrunk away from Carmilla throwing her forward as though being near she would give him a disease, Aoife sneered it was too late nothing could save him now.

It happened so quickly before their eyes. One moment he stood there his hand clenched over the knife as he tried to pull it out from his heart and then the next moment he was a pile of dust on the ground.

Aoife smiled smugly. "See, I came prepared."

Aoife ignored the overwhelming part of her who wanted to scoop her sister up in her arms and make sure she was okay, wipe away the marks of the grotesque departed pile of dust and hold her, instead Aoife moved swiftly towards Elle making short work of untying the binds and pulling the gag from her mouth.

"There much better." Aoife smiled at her.

"I knew you'd come," Elle said softly.

Coming to kneel in front of Elle Aoife took her face between her hands the fear and the worry dissipating away to a wave of anger and yet at this moment, all she saw was Elle. "I will always come and find you when you are lost."

Elle smiled a sheen of tears appearing in her eyes as she gazed into the green eyes of her lover. It took her only seconds to decide how she should replay her rescuer. Leaning her face closer their lips met in a hard kiss Elle piling all the fear she had felt during their captivity, and losing them in Aoife, a solid wall of steel who would never let her down.

That was the upside of loving Aoife Drugain Elle told herself, she got to feel all of the love that the stubborn vampire felt for her. She'd never felt that wash of emotion before and although it wasn't new, she still wasn't used to the wonderful feeling.

"I'm okay, don't worry about me," Carmilla said unimpressed trying to strengthen herself from the ordeal that was just about to begin, and the trauma of money's ago being moments away from death. Again.

Aoife pulled away from her girlfriend reluctantly, "Untie your Lorna Lane Before I change my mind and send you after the Vampire King."

Carmilla rolled her eyes hiding her shaking hands behind her back she rushed towards Laura and made quick work of untying the bonds that held her until she was fully free.

Laura wasted no time throwing her arms around Carmilla's neck and holding onto her tightly, too tightly Laura hung on even when Carmilla rose to her feet, Laura dangling off her supporter by her own hands and a lose hold that Carmilla had on her hips. "I knew you'd be here!" Laura said happily her voice muffled in her girlfriend's neck.

"Of course, when have I ever left you alone with one of your unwise decisions?" Carmilla tried to joke. "You have a very bad track record."

"Good now you have the heartfelt reunion out of the way, we'll be off." Aoife hurried, she didn't want to stick around any longer than she had to. Aoife did not want to remain for one moment longer.

Elle took Aoife's offered hand, but the smile Aoife sent her was weak and forced, Elle saw in the depths of Aoife's green eyes an ocean of emotions.

"Wait!" Laura suddenly shouted breaking away from the hold Carmilla had on her and rushing to block Aoife's exit.

"What?" Aoife spoke grumpily.

"You can't leave!" Laura said flustered ignoring the death stare Aoife sent her way. "I mean you can't leave Carmilla."

"Laura." Carmilla Warned.

"Move out of my way," Aoife growled.

"No!" Laura swallowed her nerves. "I'm not moving if you want to leave you will have to move me out of the way." Laura bravely announced, her feet braced as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Fine, I will move you." Aoife sighed about to move forward and do as she had promised only to be stopped by Elle.

"Listen to her Aoife, please," Elle asked softly.

"We all saw the look in your eyes when he threatened Carmilla," Laura said quickly. "That wasn't the look of someone who doesn't care."

Aoife frowned irritated. "I hate to see dumb animals butchered."

"Gee thanks." Carmilla rolled her eyes.

"Aoife," Elle called.

"I thought you hated her," Aoife asked her girlfriend annoyed, she hated being out in this position.

"I do, but Aoife you don't." Elle finally said the words she had been wanting to say for such a long time. "You can't hate her Aoife, and you know it more than anyone, I'm not her biggest fan but Aoife, I love you and I want the best for you.

Aoife shrugged coldly dismissing the words as though they were a simple whisper in the wind.

"Can you both stop giving her more opportunities to make fun of me please," Carmilla asked sarcastically, she wanted to leave too it was hard having to face her sister's judging all hating eyes. Carmilla wanted to go home and pretend none of this had ever happened.

"No Carmilla I have to watch you cry over her, you think I don't notice but I do, I hear you crying when you think I'm asleep," Laura said honestly.

"Oh well, tears are better than fears." Aoife shrugged carelessly taking a step to the exit but again pulled back by Elle who stood firm.

Big brown eyes dared Aoife to object. "Now you listen to me Ms. Drugain."

"Ms. Drugain." Aoife asked confused.  _Damn, we'll be using that at some point when we are both alone and you Elle are very naked._

"Yes, Ms. Drugain you better listen to me because what you don't know it I've seen the letters you keep in your side draw," Elle said, seeing the flicker of realization switch on in Aoife's eyes. Elle had found it when she had been looking for a pen one day to take a message, she'd flicked through the ancient pages the penmanship elaborate and decadent. At first, Elle had thought it was an old love letter some besotted lover had written for her that Aoife had kept close, and then she'd caught sight of the name signed at the bottom.

_Your devoted sister,_   
_Carmilla_

Each one signed with similar affection, Elle had read a few but felt as though she had intruded upon her partner and her secrecy, by keeping those letters written so long ago it was clear how Aoife felt.

"So I have letters many people do." Aoife dismissed.

"You know who the letters are from Aoife and you know why you keep them." Elle challenged her lover to deny. "I know why you keep them."

Aoife stares at Elle trying to think up explanations as to why she had kept those letters, maybe she just likes to hoard things, maybe liked old things or maybe deep in her heart when she read them she was transported back to a time when things were different. She And Carmilla were different. Clearing her throat against the block. "I need to clean more."

Laura rolled her eyes. "Dammit, you stubborn vampires will be the death of me!" Angrily Laura stomped towards Aoife knowing she was risking life and death but it was worth it. "You get over there now and hug your sister!"

"Excuse me, what the hell is happening here I came here cause you two were being held captive by a lunatic with fangs and now I find myself held captive by those same two I care to save, this is the gratitude I get for my trouble," Aoife complained.

"I want to leave too I don't need to be stuck with some grouch who thinks she's God." Carmilla protested, trying her best to act like a badass who didn't care, didn't care that Aoife was leaving again.

"You're not going anywhere and if you want sex ever again you will stay right there." Laura threatened.

Aoife sniggered. "Nice one, look who is wrapped around the thumb."

"I don't know why you are laughing, the same goes for you," Elle said firmly as Aoife's smile dropped from her lips.

Feeling attacked both Aoife And Carmilla stepped back slightly until they found themselves crashing into each other as they did.

"Hug now." Laura reminded them.

"I'm not hugging her," Aoife said firmly.

"Do it!" Elle shot a determined look in her eyes.

"God, if only I'd been told having a girlfriend would mean losing all control over decisions," Aoife complained.

Carmilla watched Aoife from the corner of her eye waiting if her heart could beat she knew it would be pounding so hard at that moment.

Laura And Elle stared at Aoife knowing she was the stubborn one, the one who it all rested upon. They needed her to move first.

Aoife nervously bit down on her bottom lip as she turned to ace Carmilla, a petite lonesome figure shadowed by the dim lighting in the dungeon cell-like cellar. In her mind's eyes she was cast back to that day so very long ago when they first met, Carmilla's eyes so afraid and anxious Aoife had wanted to protect her from the whole world and she'd tried her hardest.

Even when Aoife had fallen for Elle she's found herself crossing swords with Carmilla, she still had to protect her yet it hadn't been enough she had failed her as well as she had failed Elle she could save neither.

Today she's almost lost her again, watching the Vampire king touch her younger sister had made her want to go berserk and destroy him, cut him into little pieces and feed him to the rats that no doubt lurked around in the shadows.

"Aoife," Elle said softly, trying to break her out of her silent indecision.

Aoife Met Carmilla's gaze, their eyes linked a past shared spread out between them and it was too much, it became too great a burden to bear. Suddenly Aoife swept forward and lunges for Carmilla pulling her into her embrace and holding her tightly, so tightly Laura and Elle feared that they would hear the crunch of bones, and yet Carmilla clung on tightly to her elder sister letting tears fall down her cheeks and fall onto Aoife.

"I'm so sorry." Aoife sniffed.

"I'm sorry too." Carmilla cried out, clinging so hard to Aoife that her fingers dug into Aoife's skin. "I didn't know."

"I missed you every day," Aoife confessed. 

"I missed you too." Carmilla sobbed. "My heart broke when I knew you hated me."

"I never hated you," Aoife answered honestly. "I was ashamed and I was angry with myself, the only person I hated was me for not protecting you as I promised to do so long ago."

Laura and Elle exchanged smug looks, no words were needed it seemed the big plan they needed to plan out had already been done and achieved with the help of an ancient crazy self-proclaimed King of vampires. Not to mention some stubbornness from them. 


	37. Happy Days

"Is that the biggest you could get?" Carmilla asked distastefully her brown eyes hooked on to the sight of the three-tiered cake on the kitchen side.

Laura sighed rolling her eyes, she'd spent the day trailing the high streets looking at bakeries trying to find the perfect cake, the one Carmilla had specified.

Carmilla has insured the menu for the night's dinner party was filled with everything she remembered was Aoife's favorite foods, the blancmange sat waiting in the fridge, raspberries waiting to do their job and play decoration when serving began. The sweet dessert commonly made with milk or cream and sugar thickened with gelatin, cornstarch or traditionally if you had it to spare Irish moss were flavored with almonds.

Laura had to force herself not to comment on how much the dessert would look like a breast with the raspberry on top to act as it's rosy red well-teased nipple.

Shaking the thought aside Laura took expensive steaks from the fridge she had just been hypnotized by milky white molds. "Listen I've been running around like crazy today, be happy she's coming for goodness sake, I'm happy I got to talk you out of that tongue recipe." Laura grimaced the very idea of making such a dish was hard enough but then to have to eat it too, it was too much.

Carmilla huffed. "That was Aoife's favorite dish, she had this lady friend who cooked a lot I think she did some witchcraft too between you and me because once when I was waiting for Aoife to come out one night I heard the woman chant out Eye of newt, and toe of frog, Wool of bat, and tongue of dog, Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting, Lizard's leg, and howlet's wing." Carmilla moved her hands with dramatic effect her feet lifted animatedly in the few days since they had returned from the castle and the Vampire King had been slain Carmilla had flowed with each passing day.

It was hard to even think about raining on Carmilla's parade. Laura recalled Carmilla's two hours long battle with nerves as she decided if she should text Aoife or not, then the agonizing wait for a reply, the horror that pierced through the vampire that her sister may not reply, that what had passed, their reconciliation-had been but a dream.

Laura let out a laugh as she recalled the jump in the air Carmilla did as her phone beeped and Carmilla saw that Aoife had replied, in her brown eyes Laura saw the tears of happiness.

"Carmilla, sweetie, I'm eating beef tongue for you, I'm having to touch a dead cow's tongue it's gross, I'm going to be having nightmares for months but I'm doing it for you, now don't worry about Aoife because if she said she will come, she will come, and I really don't think that what she eats will be important, so you?" Laura reassured her girlfriend, grasping onto her shoulders with her hands.

Carmilla gazes her Laura confused. "Why?"

"Because you will be there dummy, and I think, just a little bit that Aoife will be just as nervous as you about tonight." Laura smiled, in fact, she knew because Elle was giving her updates by the hour.

The last one had read.

_OMG, she's driving me crazy she's spent hours deciding what to wear. Send help._

Laura had spent a while laughing at the thought of the poised and distant Aoife Drugain flustered.

Elle's next text had been a little less descriptive and a lot more emoji related, but still it had sent Laura into fits of laughter which had been at a very bad moment walking out of the bakery the bake in her hands, it had almost kissed the sidewalk if Laura hadn't have been so quick to catch it.

"What did she say?" Carmilla asked eagerly?

Laura gave an indulgent smile. "Elle said that Aoife was looking forward to this evening."  _And a lot of other things but we don't have enough time to say them all right now._

"What do you think that could mean? Maybe she doesn't want to come, maybe she doesn't want to see me, maybe she's changed her mind." Carmilla gasped out in shock.

"It means she is looking forward to this evening." Laura pointed out the obvious, "you do remember that Danny is coming too, right?"

Carmilla's shoulders dropped as did her anxious smile, she'd been unhappy with the news that Aoife would be bringing Danny, this was her day with Aoife, not Danny's. "Why is she coming anyway? She's had her time with Aoife I'm the one who hasn't." Carmilla pouted like a five-year-old girl denied the first choice of Easter Eggs.

Laura shocked her head exasperated she had to cook a tongue she didn't need to have to babysit Carmilla too. "You know why, and I think it's nice, Elle says that Aoife is trying to not make either of you feel left out and have an evening together as a family."

Family, the word sounded heavenly to Carmilla's ears. It had been so long since she could claim she had one when Aoife had walked away that dark dismal day Carmilla had lost everything. Then she remembered Danny was coming and her happy mood slipped. "She's going to be there annoying me, trying to make Aoife like her the best."

Laura frowned her eyebrows drawing together with intensity. "You sound like a little girl who has to share her Mommy now she has a new baby sister."

"It's not funny Laura."

"I know it's not, I wonder what name she will come up with for me this evening, I think she's used all the names beginning with L I've ever heard of." Laura sighed, anticipating the worst.

Carmilla chuckled placing a soft kiss to her girlfriend's forehead. "Sort our the tongue and stop worrying."

"That's my line!"

One thing Aoife could think of as she stood at the other side of the closed apartment door waiting was how much she hated the color of it.

"It's white just deal with it." Elle said in a whisper she'd noticed her girlfriend's grimaces at the wooden white structure. Elle also knew that Aoife's brain was working on overload because she was nervous. Something that she would not admit but Elle could feel in waves coming from her.

"It will show the dirt easier," Aoife complained.

Forcing herself not to laugh, instead, Elle held her hand out and was instantly caught by Aoife's, accompanied by a warm smile of thank you. It had been a surprise for Elle to realize that Aoife was actually anxious about tonight, she'd put her fears and her troubles aside something inside Elle told her that Aoife had wanted in her heart to do this a long time ago, maybe she'd wished she had never had to leave Carmilla in the first place.

Elle knee what had stopped Aoife, it had been her. The guilt that came with that revelation had stung, she had thought about talking about it with Aoife but realized she had no idea how to voice her troubled soul on the subject.

The door finally opened breaking Elle from her thoughts and instantly Elle heard Aoife gasp. Then release the gasp when she saw it was Laura and not Carmilla at the other side.

"Hey come in, is Danny not here?" Laura smiled, holding in her own nervousness it was her chance to make an impression on Aoife, she had to make a good one or at least favorable one at some time.

As they walked inside Laura moving aside for them to enter Elle filled in the gaps. "She has to work a little later tonight, she will be about half an hour late."

Aoife let out a snigger.

Elle And Laura turned to face her, Laura couldn't deny that the vampire looked her usual attractive self, tonight she wore a simple crimson red suit jacket her raven hair tied simply back in a ponytail, making her forehead severe when she frowned. Laura had earned enough of those looks in the time she had known Aoife Drugain.

Eager footsteps raced towards them as Carmilla rapidly appeared, a nervous smile on her lips as she played with EE hands, she felt like a shy little girl again, that lost lonely teenager who had awoken to find herself alone with Aoife, her dark looming presence and yet kind and caring, her sister. "Danny not here?" Carmilla asked hopefully her mind sowing summersaults of happiness at the idea of having Aoife all to herself.

"She will be late." Laura smiled.

"Oh." Carmilla sighed sadly.

"Aoife says Danny is lying about working overtime," Elle added when a dip I the conversation had begun to make her feel a little awkward.

"Oh really?" Laura asked intrigued.

Carmilla rolled her eyes, she knew that tone from her girlfriend, it was the one she'd used before they'd fought their mother and stole enchanted magic books from the bizarre library. It only ever brought trouble.

Elle nodded. "She says she was with Alex," Elle whispered as though she were afraid someone would hear her.

Aoife nodded confirming it was true. "When I called there was certain... errr static on the line."

"Static?" Carmilla asked confused.

All eyes on Aoife, as they waited for her to elaborate on her explanation of what exactly static had meant.

"Oh for....please buy a book, I mean static as in Danny is not in her office but a bed with someone else who was moving near the phone. " Aoife rolled her eyes.

"Ohhh." Carmilla caught on fast.

Laura And Elle were left puzzled looking at each other for something to click.

Aoife leaned towards her girlfriend a wicked look in her green eyes as she whispered. "I'll explain when we get home, with a demonstration."

Elle's cheeks blushed a deep red, but butterflies flew around in her stomach she knew Aoife always kept her promises. 

Aoife found her nervousness leave her as she'd sat down at the table a little while after arriving and her eyes had trailed along the table and found the surprise of all her once favorite foods piled up and waiting to be eaten.

Even if time had moved on and so had food fashions and her tastes with it, but Aoife's eyes stung with tears as she beheld it all.

"Are you okay?" Elle asked softly.

Aoife shook her head, unable to say anything. Her eyes rose up to meets Carmilla's anxious brown ones. A silent message passing between them as Aoife 's small smile broke out across her lips. "You really went out and remembered Ileana didn't you?"

Carmilla nodded with a blush, Laura and Danny, who had finally arrived, no one had mentioned the shirt she was wearing backward. Looked to each other in puzzlement as Elle frowned she seemed to know where this was going and she did not like it.

"Who is Ileana?" Elle asked a pang if jealousy in her words.

Aoife smiled brightly at the memory of the very attractive witch who's had a great talent for cooking. "Oh Ileana was heavenly she used to do this thi.....errrr just a cook." The raven-haired woman's eyes widened as she took in her girlfriend's unimpressed pout. "Just a random cook, nothing else just a cook who made this tongue dish."

Elle rolled her eyes.

Danny laughed, "So all of this is as gross as this beef tongue or do you have something that actually looks good?" Her eyes strayers to the bowl of beef tongue in the center of the table.

"This was fine cuisine in 1803." Carmilla frowned at Danny, Carmilla was still feeling envious that she was even there at all.

Still feeling Elle's glare Aoife turned towards Danny determined to change the subject and take the heat off herself. "So Danny, how is the delightful Alex?"

"You're not meeting her yet." Danny jumped in quickly.

Aoife gasped in stunned shock. "What, well I never asked to meet her. I simply wanted to meet her to make sure that she was good enough for my sister."

Carmilla rolled her eyes suddenly feeling a little sick, as Laura felt her own pangs on envy creeping over her. Why hadn't Aoife been keen to approve of her? Who was this Alex and why did Aoife want to meet her?

Clearing her throat nervously Laura began to build some courage to ask. "And Err....do I...I mean am I?" Laura's hand shook as Aoife turned to face her, green orbs of mist calculating her. "I mean...I was the one who cooked the tongue thing."  _And nearly threw up._

Silence settled around the table as they waited.

"I think you already know the answer to your question, Laura." Aoife smiled.

Laura's eyes grew wide with surprise, the first genuinely nice comment from Aoife, she hadn't even flared at her and she'd actually said her name.  _She knows my name! Ha, I knew it all alone._

Carmilla grinned brightly things were definitely looking brighter.


	38. Good Mornings

"Aoife!" Elle called out studying her reflection in the mirror as she ran her hands over her hair to make sure it was perfect. Golden brown hair pulled up into a bun away from her face seemed to make her cheekbones stand out even more than they usually did.

"Aoife come on!" Elle shouted louder this time, brushing her hand over her black shirt decorated with pink and orange flowers, hung from green leaves and branches. A new purchase for her to store in her work wardrobe. Shopping trips with Aoife were always fun things, she never looked the type but Aoife was happy to spend whole days shopping, cut with restaurant visits and trips to the movies, a new experience for Elle she'd been mesmerized at the huge screen with moving pictures they had looked like they would pop out and attack her.

This morning was Elle's first day back at work since she and Laura had their unfortunate run-in with the lovely vampire king. It was also her first full day, she was anxious and she was excited.

The only problem was Aoife was not playing along with her. "Aoife get up I'm leaving soon!"

A muffled groan sounded out from the bedroom. Rolling her eyes Elle turned away from the mirror happy with what she had seen there, for a Victorian girl she scrubbed up pretty well in modern attire.

Elle rolled her eyes and stomped back into the bedroom, still pitch dark the curtains closed she stepped over the clothes that had found their way to the ground from the night before. Aoife was a usually tidy woman but in certain situations, Aoife had no time for fastidiousness.

Elle felt her cheeks blush at the memory.

Elle's mouth fell open at the sight that met her as she lifted her head up from the ground to the bed, lounging comfortably in the queen size bed Aoife lay, eyes closed her arms resting on her toned naked stomach, perfect breasts pointed upwards in worried that they stood proudly on display.

"Wow," Elle whispered. The memories of having to share a bed with Aoife when in Styria, the presence of her bear and now knowing what the vampire hid under her clothes Elle felt glad she hadn't seen it then, until that fateful day when she did.

"When will you stop staring at me and come over here and keep me company." Aoife's Irish brogue spike unexpectedly as though she'd been faking her sleep, to try to lure Elle.

"Have you been trying to trap me?" Elle gasped out in outrage.

Lifting herself up on her elbows Aoife lifted her eyebrow. "Did it work?"

"How dare you think I could be so easily convinced by your breasts," Elle said as seriously as she could muster having to take in Aoife's cheeky enticing grin and intoxicating breasts.

"Eyes are up here Ms. Sheridan." Aoife flirted, kicking the covers away from her lower body to reveal her whole naked body.

Elle felt her mouth run dry, her eyes eagerly took in every available inch of Aoife.

Aoife took advantage of Elle's stunned silence to observe her girlfriend, wrapped up in her professional attire, her hair pulled tightly back from her face she looked so unlike Elle, her Elle.

There was no doubt that this Elle was sexy as hell and in need of unwrapping, Aoife felt the strongest need to rip away the tidy respectability, ruffle her hair wildly with hot sex.

The idea was far too tempting.

"You aren't going to leave now, are you? It's too early." Aoife purred as she slithered down to the foot of the bed and pulled Elle closer to her.

"I...I have to go to work, it's my first real day." Elle gulped.

"Hmm...well it's very early, and I think that you should use your privilege and stay here with me, we can think of something to spend our time until you really do have to go," Aoife whispered softly in Elle's ear, letting the hard tips of her nipples tease Elle through her shirt.

Elle just about collapsed onto the ground from the sensation. "I.."

"You are dating the bosses, girlfriend's, sister, you should take advantage of that." Aoife cooed as her tongue slowly toured the outer shell of Elle's ear.

"I don't think it works that way." Elle shivered.

"Well, you could always phone in and use the, my girlfriend is a vampire line, it works every time."

"Oh hell who cares!" Elle huffed throwing herself into Aoife's arms sending them both falling back against the bed, Elle falling on top of her lover.

"You're an eager beaver." Aoife giggled.

                                                                                     xxx

Elle poured herself a cup full of tea from the teapot, filling Aoife's when hers was sufficiently full, she was trying to ignore the smug arrogant look that Aoife had plastered all over her face.

It had taken her a while but finally, Elle had managed to throw back on her work clothes and redo her hair. There was no sign now of the ravaged woman she had been moments ago.

"Pour the milk and stop looking so pleased with yourself." Elle said sternly.

"Almond milk is hardly milk, and Ms. Sheridan I think I can be as smug as I like."

"We don't drink cow milk," Elle said ignoring Aoife's words.

"Hmm, goats milk?" Aoife joked.

"You want to try the soy milk again?" Elle threatened.

"You wouldn't dare." Aoife gasped.

"Try me.

"Fine, and I won't forget about what little malfunction you had, young lady," Aoife smirked.

"Malfu....you said you wouldn't mention it again." Elle felt her cheeks turn red.

Aoife's green eyes glowed with mischief as she picked up the carton of almond milk and poured it into Elle's cup, their eyes never leaving each other. "What how you farted as I was.."

"Yes thank you!" Elle shrieked. She'd wanted to show sophistication and be desirable and then she had farted in Aoife's face. She would never be able to live that shame down.

Aoife smiled, she understood why Elle felt embarrassed. "You know something, that happens to people all of the time."

"Why do I find that hard to believe?" Elle asked sadly.

"Because they are human." Aoife shrugged. "All kinds of things happen that their body just makes happen and they have no say in it."

Elle pursed her lips unhappily. "Still, let's never talk about it again."

"Awww." Aoife sighed reaching across to catch Elle's hand in her own. "What's really wrong? You know it's funny, right? And hello Ms. I'm embarrassed to fart, I drank blood for centuries you really think I'm going to be grossed out by such a small thing as flatulence."

Elle blanched, this conversation had taken a weird and sinister turn. "I really don't want to know, can we eat breakfast and forget all about this horror show? What are you doing today?"

Aoife rolled her eyes. "Meeting with cretins at eleven and then Carmilla and I are going to stake out Danny's office for signs of her mysterious lady."

"You've roped Carmilla into your little hunt a sister's girlfriend club?" Elle sighed as she took a sip from her cup, the smell of freshly buttered toast was too inviting to ignore.

"It's not a club, I don't have enough members to call it a club, call it instead, a few citizens who are curious." Aoifa shrugged, reaching for her own piece of toast, applying the delicious strawberry jam onto hers. "This always reminds me of the old days, eating English soldiers who dared stand in my way. Good times."

Elle closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. "Can we not compare the jam to blood please, I have to eat this."

"Your punishment for making me drink almond milk." Aoife chuckled evilly.

Elle glared at her girlfriend, two angry orbs of brownish green burning a hole through Aoife. "How can you be so old and still act like a child?"

"Hey, I'm not the one who farted during a very adult activity." Aoife shot back at her lover. Mornings now since Elle had come into her life were so different to the dull bland boring ones she had once endured, she'd spent her time alone, sourly watching the world go by on cell phone as she waited to go into work.

Even work now was not so bad, she wasn't as short-tempered with the incompetent workforce she employed, they were at an odd peace with having a smiling Aoife looking at them through video link.

Elle gasped, "Can you not shout that, what if someone heard you?"

"This isn't 1872 anymore, you can even do it in public now." Aoife winked. "The fart not the sex, that is still against the law."

Elle fell silent for a time, she knew Aoife saw it as a big joke and had laughed about it non stop but after hearing of centuries of Aoife's sexual conquests all women with far more life experience and sophistication than her, Elle felt that she couldn't compare sometimes and this was one of those times. "Why did you fall in love with me?" Elle asked suddenly.

Too suddenly, Aoife wasn't expecting such a question. "You know why, I told you."

"Tell me again," Elle asked softly.

Aoife took a deep breath, preparing to go down deep into her soul to bring forth the feelings and reasons she knew Elle wanted to hear. Aoife would say them, she was not afraid she had already divested all of these emotions to Elle, but if the woman wanted them again she could have them a million times over. "Well, in truth I don't know why I fell in love with you. I was walking along my road filled with the usual mundane things and then I looked up and there you were." Aoife reached across to place her hand on top of Elle's. "Like opening my eyes against the bright sunshine after leaving a dark room, then my eyes adjusted and where once was filled with shadows and darkness, fear and loathing I saw innocence and sweetness, I saw a girl with a heart as big as the ocean I'd swam in as a child, I couldn't see the end of the horizon then either, that was what it was like falling in love with you. There was no end, just a strong sense of true beauty like I've never seen before and all I wanted to do was let your waves wash over me and carry me further towards that horizon, even if it meant drowning I wanted to be closer, be nearer to you."

Elle blinked, speechless again, Aoife often had that effect on her. "No one has ever said anything like that about me."

"Err hello, Ms. I'm fishing for compliments, I say it all of the time." Aoife chuckled.

Elle lowered her gaze to her cup, her hardly consumed tea held a comfort at that moment as she counted the strands of steam that spiraled out from the hot liquid into the air. "I feel insecure sometimes when I think about everyone you've been with."

"And you think I reminisce about happier and better times?"

Elle nodded sadly.

"You silly squirrel." Aoife smiled. "Does it not tell you anything that from the moment I first saw you in your parlor that day in 1872 until I walked back into your house in Styria a few months ago there had been no one, we'd never so much as even held hands and yet you were enough to make me shun everyone else as inferior. What I'm saying Elle is simple, fart all you like burp if you like I don't care, your still the sexiest woman I've ever seen."

"You think I'm sexy?" Elle smirked slightly feeling the truth of Aoife's words washing over her.

Aoife lifted an eyebrow. "Oh hell yes, sexy as fuck and as hot as hell, now let's forget about that what are you and the Scooby gang doing?"

Elle laughed, Aoife had introduced her to that particular cartoon character a few weeks ago, they spent a long wet weekend cozied up on the sofa watching cartoons and old movies. "Laura says there is a story to be had in this new lab opening up, she's not sure what they do though."

"Oh hell, Elle please reassure me I won't have to come to rescue you two again, because I swear I can't take the stress again." Aoife sighed the memory of the last time still haunted her, how close she'd come to losing Elle after she'd only just found her again.

Elle rolled her eyes. "No Aoife the warrior princess."

"I keep telling you I'm not a princess, just the daughter of a clan chief." Aoife started for the millionth time.

Elle smiled warmly. "Just isn't something I would ever use with you, you Aoife Drugain are everything, just is nothing and you are all my heart."


End file.
